Cricket lovers at Dharamsala will get to see the Indian Premier League (IPL) frenzy on Thursday as the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) take on Delhi Daredevils (DD) at HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala, the adopted ground of the Punjab franchise. It is the 67th match of the IPL 2013 and the second meeting for the teams.
Overview:
KXIP should beat DD on Thursday to stay alive in the competition. They can slight chance of making it to the Play-Offs if they win the remaining two games, though their fate still depends on the performance of Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore. They will pull up all they have and try to win the next matches. Having defeated RCB by seven wickets in the previous game, they are currently placed at sixth position with 12 points after winning six of the 14 matches played.
DD topped the table in the last season but are out of the contention for the Play-Offs this time, winning only three of the 14 games played. They lost to Chennai Super Kings by 33 runs in the previous match. They will be keen not only to entertain their supporters but also to stop their four-match losing streak.
Previous Meetings:
KXIP have 6-5 win-loss record against DD in their 11 encounters in the IPL. KXIP defeated DD by five wickets in their previous meeting this season.
Team News:
Kings XI Punjab: Skipper Adam Gilchrist has finally got back his form after a disappointing show this season, which will boost the confidence of the team. His knock of 85 from 54 balls (not out) and Azhar Mahmood's 61 helped the team chase RCB's 174 total. Their batting line-up is looking strong with the likes of Mandeep Singh, David Miller, Luke Pomersbach and Rajagopal Sathish in the side.
Parvinder Awana took three wickets while Azhar Mahmood took two in the previous match. They also have Sandeep Sharma, Manpreet Gony, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Harmeet Bansal and Ryan Harris in the bowling attack. Their performance this season has been impressive.
Delhi Daredevils: David Warner (44) and Johan Botha (23) were the leading scorers in the previous match, which indicated the inconsistency of their batting line-up. They have Mahela Jayawardena, Virender Sehwag, Unmukt Chand, Ben Rohrer and Irfan Pathan in the side but their inconsistency has cost them some close games in the tournament.
In the bowling department, they have Umesh Yadav, Irfan Pathan, Morne Morkel, Ashish Nehra and Shahbaz Nadeem. Umesh Yadav took two wickets and Roelof Van Der Merwe took one in the previous match. Overall, their performance this season has been disappointing.
Prediction:
KXIP's performance has been improving as the tournament progresses but DD are yet to show their potential. KXIP are the favourite to win on Thursday.
SQUADS:
Kings XI Punjab: Adam Gilchrist (C), Azhar Mahmood, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, David Hussey, David Miller, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Gurkeerat Mann Singh, Harmeet Singh Bansal, Luke Pomersbach, Manan Vohra, Mandeep Singh, Manpreet Gony, Nitin Saini, Parvinder Awana, Paul Valthaty, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Rajagopal Sathish, Ryan Harris, Sandeep Sharma, Shaun Marsh, Siddharth Chitnis, Sunny Singh
Delhi Daredevils: Mahela Jayawardene (c), Ajit Agarkar, Andre Russell, Arisht Singhvi, Ashish Nehra, CM Gautam, David Warner, Gulam Bodi, Irfan Pathan, Jeevan Mendis, Johan Botha, Kedar Jadhav, Manpreet Juneja, Morne Morkel, Naman Ojha, Pawan Negi, Roelof Van Der Merwe, Royston Dias, Siddarth Kaul, Sujit Nayak, Shahbaz Nadeem, Umesh Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Venugopal Rao, Virender Sehwag, Yogesh Nagar
Where to Watch Live
The match will begin at 8:00 pm IST and will be telecast live on Sony Set Max channel.
