Delhi Daredevils (DD) will take on Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) in match no 33 of IPL 2016 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi on Thursday. The Supergiants are in all sorts of trouble, having not been at their best since the start of the tournament, and therefore would be raring to go out and register a victory over the upbeat Daredevils.
The hosts, under the creative leadership of Zaheer Khan, have most of their bases covered. Their captain has led from the front — with his bowling and his out-of-the-box strategies. Zaheer's leadership has been one of the keys to DD's success in IPL 2016.
Dhoni, who as we all know is one of the best in the business, has to lead from the front. He is capable of achieving the impossible, as he has done it in the past, and will look to implement all his experience when his side will face the Delhi Daredevils in Kotla on Thursday.
Two great captains squaring off will surely be a treat to watch.
Meanwhile, the Supergiants have been plagued by injuries right from the start of the tournament. They seemed to have overcome that and were ready to rumble in the rest of IPL 2016 with two new additions to their ranks — Usman Khawaja and George Bailey.
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They cannot affort to lose any more matches if they want a dramatic turnaround from here onwards.
"We will try our best and we have also got two new entrants in Usman Khawaja and George Bailey, so I hope the team combination becomes very good. We have just welcomed them, and I hope we get the right combination and start winning matches — because that is very important from now onwards," RPS all-rounder Rajat Bhatia was quoted as saying by the official website of the IPL.
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Bhatia also said he has complete faith on his skipper MS Dhoni, and is hopeful they can turn things around against the Daredevils.
"Let's hope we start doing well from this game onwards and then you never know. You know the captain of our team, his record speaks for itself. There must be a few things going through his (Dhoni's) mind right now," he said.
"Even though we are not doing well right now, it doesn't mean he's not a good captain. I always feel that his way of thinking is completely different. He stays calm. He is unbelievable. And there are so many things you normally learn from IPL, and that's what I'm learning from him — how to stay calm."
The Daredevils on the other hand will look to push Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the second position and claim the top spot on Thursday. Their net run rate is better than KKR's and Gujarat Lions', and thus they are well on course to booking that elusive spot in the IPL 2016 Playoffs.
Rishabh Pant, who lit up things against Gujarat Lions in the last match, will look to emulate his form with the bat against the Supergiants as well. Karun Nair, Sanju Samson and Quinton de Kock have all been among runs.
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Dhoni will have to find a way to break Delhi Daredevils' momentum on Thursday.
Where to watch live
Delhi Daredevils vs Rising Pune Supergiants IPL 2016 match– is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. IST (3:30 a.m. BST, 10:30 a.m. ET). Live TV coverage of the Delhi Daredevils vs Rising Pune Supergiants IPL 2016 match will be on Sony Max, Sony Six/HD, Sony ESPN/HD. Online options are available on Hotstar and Starsports.com.
Sky Sports 2 and Sky Sports HD 2 will broadcast the Delhi Daredevils vs Rising Pune Supergiants IPL 2016 match live in the UK and Ireland, with the live stream options on Watch Sky Sports and Sky Go.
Viewers in the US can watch Delhi Daredevils vs Rising Pune Supergiants IPL 2016 match on ESPN, while the game can also be live streamed on Watch ESPN.
Sportsnet and viewers in Canada can watch the Delhi Daredevils vs Rising Pune Supergiants IPL 2016 match on Watch Sportsnet.
OSN Sports Cricket will show Delhi Daredevils vs Rising Pune Supergiants game live in the Middle East and North Africa, while all the action can also be watched via live streaming online on OSN Cricket Play.
Supersport and Supersport Live Video will broadcast Delhi vs Pune IPL 2016 match LIVE in South Africa.
Viewers from across the world, around 133 countries, can watch the IPL 2016 match live online on Cricketgateway.
