The 44th game of the tournament, and the first match of this penultimate Super Sunday before the final, will see the Delhi Daredevils face the Kings XI Punjab.
Punjab is already out of the tournament, but did thwart Mumbai’s attempt at becoming the first side to enter the semi-finals in this edition, whereas Delhi has 12 points in the tournament so far and a win will almost seal their place in the knock-out.
Despite Punjab’s performance in the game against Mumbai, their dismal IPL this time around, means that they will go into the game at 6/4 (Totesport) to win the game, as compared to the favourites, Delhi, with Sky Bet offering 4/7 for their win.
Apart from a half century, Virender Sehwag (11/4 at Stan James to top-score for Delhi) has not been in the best of touches. What the opposition may need to look at is that in the previous game, he looked like regaining his lost touch before his cameo was cut short. The same story seems to be repeating with Gautam Gambhir (7/2 at Stan James to be the best Delhi batsman) as the runs look to have dried up with his bat, whereas Dave Warner (11/4 at Sky Bet to top-score for his side) has been the only one in the top three, who has made his stint count.
What will be interesting would be how the Delhi middle-order cope up with the Punjab spinners; who had made life miserable even for the leaders, Mumbai Indians. Paul Collingwood (9/2 at Stan James to be the best) will need to take out all his experience in order to get the better of the spinners, but his recent stint in Bangladesh will definitely help him.
The Kings XI Punjab saw a drastic change in their line-up in the last game. The inclusion of Adrian Barath seemed to have taken the Mumbai Indians by surprise, while Mahela Jayawardene (11/4 at Sky Bet to be the best batsman for his side) continued to prosper at the top. Now, only if Yuvraj Singh (9/2 at Stan James to top-score for Punjab) could get back to his run-crunching ways, it will afford his captain Kumar Sangakkara (10/3 at Sky Bet to be the best batsman for his side) much respite, and his owner, Priety Zinta, much rejoice!
Tips:
Favourites: Delhi Daredevils (4/7 at Sky Bet)
Top Delhi batsman: Gautam Gambhir (7/2 at Stan James)
Top Punjab batsman: Kumar Sangakkara (10/3 at Sky Bet)