The business end of the tournament – read, the knock-out stage – of the Indian Premier League will see the Delhi Daredevils take on the Deccan Chargers and the Chennai Super Kings face up to the Royal Challengers Bangalore. This piece previews Friday’s semi-final to be played at Centurion between Delhi and the Chargers.

The Delhi Daredevils (2/1 at Bet365 to lift the trophy) had gone in as being the pre-tournament favourites, and so far, they have lived up to that billing to the hilt. Their middle-order has done extremely well, as has their bowling. The only area of concern for Delhi (8/11 at Stan James to win game) may have been their openers’ slot, where Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir haven’t really managed to perform to the lofty thresholds one has come to expect out of them. Before going into the final league match against Mumbai, Sehwag’s nine games had seen him score less than 150, while Gambhir was only marginally better at 284 from 14.

However, Sehwag (10/3 at William Hill to be top Delhi scorer in semi-final) will take heart from the previous Mumbai game, which saw him get a half century, while partnering Gambhir (7/2 at Paddy Power to be top Delhi scorer) in a potentially match-winning partnership. Gambhir hit a 37-ball 47 in the Mumbai game. In a pressure situation like that in the semi-final, it will be Sehwag’s ability to overcome nerves and go after the bowling from the word go, that should set him apart.

To forget the form of the Delhi middle order will be blasphemous and making predictions about the top batsman, almost an exercise in futility. A.B. de Villiers (4/1 at Stan James to be the best Delhi batsman in the game) has impressed with the bat in almost every game he has batted, and scored more than 400 runs, while T.Dilshan’s (9/2 at Paddy Power to be the best Delhi batsman in the game) almost 350 have been punctuated with fearless pulls and hook shots.

The Delhi bowling is in safe hands as well, with the quicker men in Ashish Nehra (9/2 at Stan James to be most economic) and Dirk Nannes (9/2 at Stan James to be most economic) buffered by the surprisingly accurate spin of Amit Mishra (10/3 at Stan James to be most accurate and economic!). In fact, looking at Delhi’s line-up in totality, it will have to do really bad to lose the semi-final!

The biggest disadvantage that the Deccan Chargers (5/4 at Betfred to beat Delhi) have is that this will be the second occasion in the tournament that will play two games on successive days; ensuring that while they do remain ‘charged’ up for most part, crucial junctures in the match could see the bodies falter. Adam Gilchrist (3/1 at Stan James to be top Deccan scorer) can be a bit up and down, but possesses an uncanny knack of being turned on for important games like these, as was seen in the 2007 World Cup final.

Herschelle Gibbs (7/2 at Stan James to top score for Deccan) goes into the match with a string of reasonable scored under his belt, and with his confidence back, he should be able to do well. In turn, he may also keep Dwayne Smith (7/1 at 888Sport to be top Deccan scorer) out of the playing eleven. Rohit Sharma (5/1 at 888Sport to be the best Deccan batsman) has been pushed down the order, and asked to perform a role much like Yusuf Pathan did for the Rajasthan Royals; making it difficult for him to be able to bat for longer periods of time. Andrew Symonds (4/1 at Paddy Power to top-score), on the other hand hasn’t had a great couple of previous games, despite starting with a bang and will like to make amends in the semi-finals.

Tips:
Favourites: Delhi Daredevils (8/11 at Stan James)
Top Delhi batsman: Virender Sehwag (10/3 at William Hill)
Top Deccan batsman: Adam Gilchrist (3/1 at Stan James)
Most economic bowler: Dirk Nannes (9/2 at Stan James)