Qualifier 2, IPL 2016, Delhi: Preview
Only three teams are left in IPL 2016 – RCB, Gujarat Lions and Sunrisers Hyderabad. There can be no disputing the fact that they are the three best teams in the IPL this season and very much deserve to be in the top three.
Sunrisers Hyderabad take on Gujarat Lions tomorrow. They have both been the top performers in the IPL 2016 for much of the season, but were both overshadowed by RCB, and particularly by the exploits of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. It is as though they have no answer to the super stars from Bangalore.
[table id=35 /]
The winner of this match will meet RCB in the final and will try to find an answer to a problem called Virat Kohli. The losers will be out of the tournament, one they have shed blood, sweat and tears to get so far. Regardless of the result tonight, there is no question that both Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Lions have every reason to be proud of what they have achieved this season.
Both Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Lions are relatively new teams. This is only the second season for Sunrisers and the first for Gujarat Lions. The way they have set aside established IPL teams such as Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils is highly commendable.
We expect a tough match tomorrow. Sunrisers will expect a lot from David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh, who are their star players, with support from Moises Henriques, who has turned into a fantastic all-rounder in this format. They will expect another Australian all-rounder Ben Cutting to contribute as well.
The Gujarat Lions depend heavily on their opening pair of Brendon McCullum and Aaron Finch. They are both devastating batsmen, but are yet to click together in this IPL. Dwayne Smith has been their start performer with the bat, and done well with the ball as well. They will want Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja to contribute more with the bat.
We expect a cracking game tonight. Whoever wins will have a real challenge on hand when they take on Mssrs. Kohli, de Villiers and Gayle in the final on Sunday. But that is for later. There is a T20 match to be won tonight!
The Teams
Gujarat Lions : 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Brendon McCullum, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 5 Dwayne Smith, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Eklavya Dwivedi, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Dhawal Kulkarni, 11 Shivil Kaushik/Pravin Tambe
Sunrisers Hyderabad : 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Moises Henriques, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Naman Ojha (wk), 7 Ben Cutting, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Barinder Sran, 10 Karn Sharma//Bipul Sharma, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
Match Conditions
The last match in Delhi saw Sunrisers beat KKR by 22 runs although they made only 162, which is a relatively low score in the IPL. The Delhi pitch is sluggish, lacks pace and bounce, which makes it difficult for batsmen to score freely. It is a lot of hard work for bowlers too, especially for the pace bowlers. So expect a low scoring match. The team which holds it together under pressure will win and reach the final. No rains are forecast this evening in Delhi.
Watch Sunrisers Hyderabad play Gujarat Lions in the Qualifier 2, tonight at 8:00 pm LIVE on Sony Six!
