The Delhi Daredevils will face the Kings XI Punjab in the 46th of the 56-league match tournament, and this match assumes the proportions of must-win for the Kings.
As things currently stand, a win will allow Punjab to stay afloat in the tournament, where as a loss could totally end all their chances to get into the knock-out stage.
Kings XI Punjab (11/8 at Sporting Bet to beat Delhi) will find it difficult to get through a team which has lost only two of their ten matches so far. Delhi (4/6 at 888Sport to win match), on the other hand will go into the match on a high after having defeated the Deccan Chargers in a match which their opponents should have won 99 times out of 100.
The other reason behind Delhi’s confidence has been, ironically, Virender Sehwag (5/1 at Paddy Power to be Delhi’s highest scorer.) and Gautam Gambhir’s (7/2 at Ladbrokes to be top Delhi scorer) relative failure in the tournament. The Daredevils have had their number three, four and five position so well covered that their batting could into dangerous territories if the Delhi-duo actually clicks.
T.Dilshan (5/1 at Paddy Power to be the highest for Delhi) is probably in the form of his life, especially after he began opening for his national side, Sri Lanka. At number four, A.B. de Villiers (4/1 at 888Sport to be Delhi’s best batsman) is no less and that has led to the successive wins for Delhi.
Kings’ story is rather simple; they need Yuvraj Singh (7/2 at Sky Bet to be top Punjab batsman) to more than just fire – they need him to explode. It has been some matches since Kumar Sangakkara (4/1 at Paddy Power to be top Kings XI Punjab batsman) did anything noteworthy, and he will need to come good too, along with the other Sri Lankan, Mahela Jayawardene.
Sunny Sohal (6/1 at Ladbrokes to top-score for Kings) was the star of the other night against Mumbai, and so cannot be ignored. But the big question is whether he will be able to repeat his performances against a team that possesses a better set of bowlers, and after they now are in cognizance of his batting chart.
Amit Mishra (7/2 at Stan James to bowl most economically) and Dirk Nannes (4/1 at Stan James to be most economic) will be two bowlers to look out for, especially given that the new venue in Bleomfontein isn’t a very high scoring one and usually assists the bowlers under lights.
Tips:
Favourites: Delhi Daredevils (4/6 at 888Sport)
Top Delhi batsman: Virender Sehwag (5/1 at Paddy Power)
Top King’s XI Punjab batsman: Yuvraj Singh (7/2 at Sky Bet)
Most economic bowler: Dirk Nannes (4/1 at Stan James)
