Delhi Daredevils (DD) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are set for a massive encounter in Raipur on Friday. Both teams comprise of some magnificent stars, and will be in a serious need to shine, with eyes on playoffs.
SRH could book their playoffs berth with a win against DD. But Delhi Daredevils have a much tougher ask, as they need to win their last two games. It is not an impossible task, but not an easy one as well. They need their batsmen to shine against SRH, who have a formidable bowling line-up. Batsmen like JP Duminy, Quinton de Kock and Sanju Samson need to shoulder responsibility and score important runs for the DD.
Delhi Daredevils' assistant coach Pravin Amre is also aware of the need for their batsmen to flourish against SRH.
"That's the area (batting) we want to improve in tomorrow's game. We know that once we batted well. We did well against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in which Quinton De Kock scored 100 chasing 191. I think that was our best performance," Press Trust of India quoted Amre as saying.
"Coming to just tomorrow's game, we also have got very good memories of playing here. We are looking forward to get home ground advantage. We are hopeful and we know home support will be very vital which we want for tomorrow's game."
Though batting is always of prime importance in T20, DD bowlers like Amit Mishra and Chris Morris also needs to find a way to stop the SRH batsmen.
David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan have been brilliant in IPL 2016, scoring runs consistently, and powering their team to a commanding position. If the duo gets their act going against Delhi Daredevils, SRH are going to be in the front foot.
SRH come into this game confident after winning four of their last five games. They will be keen to carry this winning momentum against Delhi Daredevils as well. Sunrisers cannot afford to be overconfident as they lost to Delhi Daredevils in their last fixture.
"Delhi is a very good side as they have defeated us on our home ground. We know they are a very good (and) competitive side with some dangerous players amongst them.. We need to play our best game tomorrow to secure (the) winning points," PTI quoted SRH coach Tom Moody as saying.
SRH received a major setback coming into this game as their bowling spearhead Ashish Nehra was ruled out of the competition with an injury. Barinder Sran is favourite to replace the bowler, but Moody hinted that a spinner might also be brought in to replace Nehra.
"Left-arm seamer Barinder Sran can be brought in or any spin option," Moody said.
Irrespective of who plays, SRH will depend on Mustafizur Rahman to deliver against DD, and assist the team towards the playoffs.
Where to watch live
Delhi Daredevils (DD) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) is scheduled for an 8 p.m. IST (3:30 p.m. BST, 10:30 a.m. ET) start. Here are the TV and live streaming online options.
India: TV:Sony Six,Sony Six HD, Sony ESPN, Sony ESPN HD and Sony Max. Live Streaming (few minutes delay):Hotstar andStarsports.com.
Canada: TV:Sportsnet. Live Streaming:Watch Sportsnet.
USA: TV:ESPN. Live streaming:Watch ESPN.
Middle East and North Africa: TV:OSN Sports Cricket. Live Streaming:OSN Cricket Play.
South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa: TV:Supersport. Live Streaming:Supersport Live Video.
UK and Ireland: TV:Sky Sports 2. Live Streaming:Watch Sky Sports and Sky Go.
International (ROW):Cricketgateway.
