Prithvi Shaw will again be overlooked cricket
Bottom table Delhi Capitals (DC) Take on Sunrisers Hyderabad 2nd from bottom (SRH) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on April 29 and will hope to get their third successive win and no longer on the downside.
David Warner’s men are up and slowly building momentum. He has made a lot of changes in his playing XI this season and is finally starting to play with an established team. Batting is still a major weakness for DC but in the last few matches their bowlers have improved and ensured victory for them. Less than a week ago DC and SRH locked horns in Hyderabad with DC coming out on top. Warner will be keen to pull off a double take on his former side and ensure that his current side go on top of the table with a win.
So far this season, DC have lost to LSG, GT, RR, MI and RCB. They got their first win of the season against KKR in their last home game after five consecutive losses. Last time around, Delhi Capitals registered two consecutive wins when they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
A collective and disciplined bowling effort helped Delhi Capitals defend 144 as they applied pressure, scalped regular wickets and held their nerves to take three points away from the home side.
Impact player Mukesh Kumar bowled a brilliant final over to defend 13 runs after a late surge provided by Heinrich Klaasen and Washington Sundar threatened to take the match away from DC.
The batting from the Capital side is still a matter of concern. DC have lost wickets in clumps in all their games so far and their middle-order has been extremely fragile and vulnerable throughout the season.
Warner is one of the leading run-scorers this season with 306 runs with four fifties, but his strike rate of 119 is a cause for concern. He has been struggling to score quick runs and the team losing wickets in droves around him hasn’t helped his cause.
Prithvi Shaw has had a very poor season so far. The coaching staff has repeatedly supported and defended him, but he has only scored 47 runs this season. Sarfaraz has once again failed to carry on his promising domestic form and is running out of time to realize his potential. Mitch Marsh has been underwhelming this season, while Phil Salt has also been unsuccessful since replacing Shaw in the team.
Axar Patel and Manish Pandey have scored 182 and 131 runs respectively in this season so far. He is the only other batsman apart from skipper Warner to contribute to the team’s batting efforts.
Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav have started picking wickets regularly of late and this has enabled the DC bowling unit to take their team over the line. They now have thirteen wickets between them this season with an economy of seven. Enrich Nortje has scalped six wickets, while Mukesh and Ishant Sharma have also picked up important wickets. Ishant Sharma has had a run in the team as Mustafizur Rahman, Khaleel Ahmed and Chetan Sakaria have been extremely expensive in the games played this season, Sharma on the other hand has been very economical since coming into the team.
Opener: David Warner (c), Phil Salt (wk)
middle order: Aman Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Manish Pandey
all rounder: Akshar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Mitch Marsh
Bowler: Kuldeep Yadav, Enrique Nortje, Mukesh Kumar
Impact Player: Yash Dhull, Prithvi Shaw, Praveen Dubey, Chetan Sakaria and Khaleel Ahmed are all impact player options for DC.
