IPL 2023 MATCH PREVIEW: DC v SRH

Despite being touted as the strongest side on paper, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have endured a disappointing first half. The team boasted an explosive batting lineup and a formidable bowling attack that covered all bases, leaving talented players like Akeal Hossein, Kartik Tyagi and Glenn Philips on the bench due to the abundance of options. However, the much-hyped Harry Brook failed to live up to expectations, has managed just 63 runs apart from that 100 at Eden and Abhishek Sharma missing games didn’t help either. Adding to their woes, Mayank Agarwal has been a consistent disappointment, averaging a paltry 18 after playing over 90 innings, if we exclude the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The team's struggles suggest that paper strengths alone are not enough to guarantee success in the fiercely competitive world of IPL.
They have been tactically poor as well. For eg, against Lucknow by promoting Sundar ahead of Klassen and not naming Akeal Hossein in the subs. It was a tailor made pitch for the one of the best finger spinners in the world.
It would be intriguing to witness the forthcoming changes in the 11. Just as Sundar seemed to regain his form, he unfortunately suffered a hamstring injury and had to withdraw from the tournament. The team management could think of replacing Jansen with an Indian pace bowler like Tyagi so that Akeal finds a spot in the 11. Additionally, it seems that Phillips, who was among the top batters in the T20 World Cup and has an impressive T20I strike rate of 144, is too valuable to be left on the bench. Consequently, replacing the struggling Brooks with Phillips could be the ideal decision, given that the latter excels in playing spin.

Undoubtedly, the absence of Pant is having a significant impact on the DC team, as he plays a crucial role in their setup. However, their problems extend beyond his absence, and stem from deeper issues within the team. The management has displayed a lack of flexibility in their selection choices and has failed to manage the batting order effectively.For eg, Rilee Rossouw in the past 14 months in T20 cricket

PSL - 40/167
Blast - 2nd highest run scorer with 623 runs at 192 SR
96 v Eng
100 v Ind
100 v Ban
453 runs at 171 SR in PSL

Playing Salt in place of him makes little sense unless Abhishek Porel is injured.

David Warner and Mitchell Marsh have been the major disappointments for their team. Warner's performance this season has been his poorest in terms of strike rate, having managed to hit only one six so far. Marsh, who has been outstanding in white ball cricket over the past two years and delivered an impressive performance in the BBL and ODI series against India not long ago, has failed to live up to expectations.

Despite facing five consecutive losses, the team has made a remarkable comeback with back-to-back wins. In their upcoming match against SRH, if the pitch is similar to the one played against KKR, DC could potentially stifle SRH's batting lineup with their effective use of spin, as they did in their previous game.

Probable Playing XIs

Delhi Capitals

David Warner(C), Phil Salt(wk), Mitchell Marsh, Manish Pandey, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Hakim Khan, Axar Patel, Ripal Patel, Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Mayank Agarwal, Harry Brook, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram(C), Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen(wk), Marco Jansen, Umran Malik, B Kumar, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande

Last year’s Standings

Delhi: 5th

Hyderabad: 8th

Team Form

Delhi: L L L L L W W

Hyderabad: L L W W L L L

Venue

Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi

-Average Total batting 1st: 164.1
-Average 1st innings winning total: 180.1
-Highest total: 232/2 - KKR vs MI, 2019
-Lowest total: 49/10 - RCB v KKR, 2017
-Total Match Played: 80
-Batting First Won: 34
-Batting Second Won: 45

Head to Head

Overall: SRH leads by 11-10

Batting 1st: 5 - 5

Batting 2nd: SRH leads by 6-5

Last 5 Matches: DC leads by 4-1

Most runs:

Shikar Dhawan: 575

David Warner - 548

Most wkts:

Rashid Khan: 15

Kagiso Rabada: 14

Match Ups (IPL)

Mayank v Ishant: 50 off 27

Warner v Bhuvi: 29 off 41, 1 out

Axar v Bhuvi: 38 off 23, 2 out

Markram v Kuldeep: 27 off 11

Markram v Nortje: 27 off 20

Warner v Umran: 23 off 11

Tripathi v Kuldeep: 38 off 19, 1 out

Form Update ( last 5 innings )

Key Players and Fantasy Picks

Rahul Tripathi

Since the start of 2021 season, 14 batters have scored 800 or more runs. Tripathi had the best SR among Indian batters just a couple of games ago. He has scored 970 runs at a SR of 141 and overall is 4th on the list of best Strike Rates. He has been far from his best this season but he is SRH’s best bet against the duo of Kuldeep and Axar.

Aiden Markram / Heinrich Klassen
He led the Sunrisers team to victory in SA 20 as captain. During the last few months, he has been in exceptional form with 100s in all three formats and a SR of 150 for his national team. Additionally, he is an adept off-spinner. He scored 381 runs for the Sunrisers last year at 140 runs per over in 12 innings. Just like every SRH batter he hasn’t had a good season so far.

Though Klassen has managed only 100 runs in 4 innings he has by far looked SRH’s best batter by striking at 175. It is imperative, he gets a promotion in the batting order the way he has been timing the ball.

David Warner:

He has been among runs but his SR is nowhere near to the standards he has set. So far he has managed to hit only 1 six in the tournament so far after scoring 306 runs. Irrespective of his scoring rate, Warner is a bank and ashould be a blind pick in any Fantasy XI

Axar Patel:

His batting has been a revelation this year in all 3 formats. Bailed India and his franchise out number of times from crunch situations. In addition to that, he was the man of the match in the last game against SRH for his all round performance.

Fantasy XI