There is no excitement over the clash between Gujarat Lions and Delhi Daredevils as both teams are out of contention for a spot in the play-offs. They can only blame themselves for it – poor team selection, poor tactics and poor performances on the field.
The last time the two teams played, Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson were brilliant, hitting 16 sixes between them as Delhi Daredevils chased down a target of 209 set by Lions with 15 balls to spare. That was the highlight of Daredevils’ season, but unfortunately, such performances have been few and far between.
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So far, the two teams have met each other three times with Daredevils winning two of the games and losing only one. The last three games have seen Gujarat Lions beat Kings XI Punjab by six wickets, losing to Delhi Daredevils by seven wickets and losing to Rising Pune Supergiant by five wickets.
Delhi Daredevils were beaten in their last game by Mumbai Indians by a record 146 runs. It really could not get any worse for them. That was perhaps the worst performance in recent IPL history. They were also beaten by Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets
The Daredevils will be without three of their overseas players who have departed to join their international teams. Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris will be joining South Africa’s ODI team in England and Angelo Mathews if off to join the Sri Lankan side.
Sam Billings went to join England’s ODI team in the series against Ireland, but he will not come back even as the series has ended as the Delhi Daredevils are out of contention for a playoff spot.
So right now the Daredevils have only 5 overseas in the squad – Corey Anderson, who has done reasonably well; Carlos Brathwaite, who has been a failure in the limited opportunities he got; Pat Cummins, who has impressed in a few games, but hasn’t really done much after that; and Ben Hilfenhaus and Marlon Samuels, who have hardly featured.
The Teams
Gujarat Lions: 1 Dwayne Smith, 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 5 Aaron Finch, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 James Faulkner, 8 Dhawal Kulkarni, 9 Pradeep Sangwan, 10 Basil Thampi, 11 Ankit Soni.
Delhi Daredevils: 1 Sanju Samson, 2 Karun Nair, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Carlos Brathwaite, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Mohammed Shami/Shahbaz Nadeem, 11 Zaheer Khan.
Watch Gujarat Lions take on Delhi Daredevils tonight at 8 pm on Sony Six!
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