With both teams needing a win to stay in the race for the playoffs, neither the Delhi Daredevils nor the Gujarat Lions will want to take a single wrong step in this IPL 2017 match at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Thursday.
The Delhi Daredevils bounced back from five straight defeats by acing an impressive chase against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, a victory that should fill them with confidence as they look to win all five of their remaining matches in the Indian Premier League.
GL, on the same points as DD, but having played a game more, have been unlucky in their last two games, and Suresh Raina will hope that luck changes its course and heads towards their side come Thursday.
Here is a look at how DD vs GL could go.
If Delhi Daredevils bat first:
Sanju Samson and Karun Nair get off to a really good start, reaching 50 in the fifth over of the innings. While Samson falls to James Faulkner, Karun continues on nicely, with Shreyas Iyer giving the DD skipper good company at the other end.
Karun and Iyer ally for a fifty run partnership, giving the likes of Rishabh Pant, Corey Anderson and Chris Morris the license to go hell for leather in the final overs.
The three batsmen do that really well, and the Delhi Daredevils are able to post a target of 191.
Gujarat Lions start the chase in ridiculous fashion, and that too despite losing Ishan Kishan in the first over.
Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina are in one of those unstoppable moods, taking everyone back to the time when they dominated the IPL batting charts in CSK colours.
There really is no stopping either of them, as the fours and sixes just keep coming and coming, with the strong DD bowling lineup unable to do anything to get back into the game.
While both McCullum and Raina fall in the space of a few balls, the match and chase is pretty much done by then, with Aaron Finch and Dinesh Karthik taking GL home.
If Gujarat Lions bat first:
McCullum is in the mood and is joined in the four and six hitting fun for a while by Kishan. When the latter falls to Basil Thampi in the fourth over, the Gujarat Lions are already on their way, with Raina coming in and keeping that run rate going with a quickfire 36.
McCullum is strong at one end, and with Aaron Finch, who looks in good form, for company, GL are on their way to a big total.
That becomes a really big one thanks to some hitting from Dwayne Smith at the end.
With 196 to chase down, DD need to play fearless cricket again, much like they did when they chased down 185 against SRH.
Samson, however, falls early, but Karun and Iyer keep the Delhi Daredevils interested. Rishabh Pant comes in at No.4 again and thanks to three sixes in a row off the spinner Ankit Soni, the chase looks on.
Pant is then joined at the crease by Corey Anderson, and the New Zealander shows his experience one more time, staying calm initially, while making sure anything pitched up to him is spanked back for a six.
The two left-handers put on a valuable partnership, which takes the Delhi Daredevils to victory, their second straight in the IPL.
