Preview - Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils

Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils Match facts Friday, May 2, 2008 Start time 20.00 (local), 14.30 (GMT) The Big Picture The Chennai Super Kings are the only unbeaten team in the Indian Premier League but, with the departure of Mathew Hayden, Michael Hussey - their top two runscorers - and Jacob Oram, the real work has just begun if they are to stay at the top. Their first match after the exodus is against third-placed Delhi Daredevils, who haven't been hit as hard: they've lost only Daniel Vettori, who played two of the four matches. Chennai now have a huge hole in their top-order and they will be tested by the IPL's best new-ball attack - Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif. A win at home against a strong opponent could provide Chennai with the confidence needed to maintain a strong campaign throughout the tournament. Delhi, whose batting has been almost as smooth as their bowling, will have other plans, though, and the fight for the semi-final spots could become more open than it currently is. Watch out for ... ... Stephen Fleming, who is almost certain to make his IPL debut following the departure of Hayden and Hussey. He's played 36 Twenty20 matches and will need to use all his experience to counter Delhi's attack. The battle between Muttiah Muralitharan and Delhi's openers, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, could prove crucial if they get going against Chennai's new-ball attack. Sehwag hasn't had much success against Murali, falling to him four times in 38 balls since 2002 but Gambhir, on the other hand, has played Murali effectively, scoring 42 runs off 39 balls against him during the recent CB Series in Australia. Watch out too, for AB de Villiers, who may finally get a game: Dinesh Karthik has scored only 26 in two innings and de Villiers could slot in as a wicketkeeper-batsman. Team news Most teams in the competition have a problem of plenty when choosing their overseas stars for the playing XI. Chennai have no such problems because they are left with only four foreign players: Murali, Albie Morkel, Fleming and Makhaya Ntini, the latter two yet to play in the competition. There is also a doubt over their leading fast bowler Manpreet Gony, who has a fever. Chennai: 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Stephen Fleming, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), 5 S Badrinath, 6 Albie Morkel, 7, S Vidyut, 8 Joginder Sharma, 9 Muttiah Muralitharan, 10 Manpreet Gony, 11 Makhaya Ntini. Delhi are unlikely to make too many changes, though Vettori's absence makes Maharoof a strong contender for a comeback, having taken four wickets in three games with an economy of seven an over. However, Delhi have been relying on their top order to do most of the scoring so the inclusion of de Villiers could strengthen the middle. Delhi: 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Manoj Tiwary, 7 Rajat Bhatia, 8 Farveez Maharoof, 9 Mohammad Asif, 10 Yo Mahesh, 11 Glenn McGrath. IPL form Chennai Super Kings: WWWW Delhi Daredevils: WWLW Stats and trivia Gambhir has scored 174 runs in four innings at a strike-rate of 144. He is 16 runs away from over-taking Hayden as the tournament's top-scorer and claiming the orange cap. Chennai Super Kings' Joginder Sharma and Suresh Raina have taken four catches each, the most the tournament so far. Quotes "Makhaya [Ntini] brings in a lot of experience and will of course open with the new ball. Albie is fine allrounder and then we have Stephen Fleming batting at the top of the order. So, I feel that our team has the kind of balance that it did not have in the previous four games." Kepler Wessels, coach of the Chennai Super Kings.

Gambhir, McGrath star in Delhi win

Bangalore Royal Challengers v/s Delhi Daredevils Toss Bangalore Royal Challengers, who chose to field first Result Delhi Daredevils won by 10 runs Player of the match GD McGrath (Delhi Daredevils) Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan laid out the carpet and Glenn McGrath, returning the best figures in the IPL's brief history, walked over it as the Delhi Daredevils got themselves back on track after a blip in their last game. It wasn't a comfortable win, as the Bangalore Royal Challengers kept them to 191 for 5 when 205 seemed an easy total and later when Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid threatened to chase it down, but another choke from the visiting side - who for the third game running left Misbah-ul-Haq on the bench - put Delhi at second in the points table. The Feroz Shah Kotla track wasn't known for any major assistance to seam or swing and Dravid's decision to field on a sluggish surface with variable bounce ultimately turned out to be a mistake. After a quiet first over, Gambhir waded into the Bangalore attack in stunning fashion. First he took Zaheer Khan for three fours, a delectable square cut tucked between two shots off the pads, and then hit Dale Steyn for a couple more. Virender Sehwag hit a few lusty shots before he was run out for a 12-ball 24, but Gambhir applied himself excellently. Scoring wasn't easy given the low bounce but shuffling and waiting for the ball to come onto him - there were certain shots that had to be checked as the ball stopped on him - he slashed boundaries backward of point and pulled through the infield. With Dhawan very solid at one end, and consciously playing the ball along the ground, Gambhir backed his judgment of the track to slash boundaries backward of square both sides. Bangalore pulled back the scoring for a couple overs but Sunil Joshi, replacing Anil Kumble, had a torrid first over that went for 19 as both batsmen picked up sixes. Dhawan, upright and packing his drvies with power, scored at a very healthy clip. A massive slog off Kallis took him to 49, and he looked set to press on after his fifty but a stunning catch from Dravid at midwicket cut him short. Steyn and Kallis rattled the stumps to check Delhi's middle order and, having lost strike for a brief while, Gambhir slogged Zaheer to midwicket for 86 from 54 balls. Delhi were on target for over 200 but those strikes left them short. They may have been a tad disappointed by not going further but with McGrath leading a tidy pace they backed themselves. The maestro, bowling as metronimically as he did in his pomp, needed five deliveries to remove Praveen Kumar, flicking to midwicket, but his double-wicket third over was massive: Ross Taylor's gung-ho approached ended in a top-edge to deep midwicket and Wasim Jaffer did the same to mid-on. From 48 for 3 after five overs Dravid and Kallis, with near 20,000 Test runs between them, added 87 in 10.3 overs. Yo Mahesh and Rajat Bhatia went for 26 in two overs through classy, low-risk shots before pumped sixes lowered the asking rate further. Kallis went past his previous IPL best, mostly with shuffled flicks, and Bangalore needed 58 with seven wickets and 30 balls remaining. That's when Sehwag tossed the ball back to McGrath. Three balls later Dravid was walking back for 38, his slog into the starry night setting into Sehwag's palms at mid-on. McGrath finished with 4 for 29, a special and memorable effort. Kallis thumped himself past fifty but a fourth miserly over from another one-day international master, Daniel Vettori, effectively killed all hopes. Vettori allowed just five singles and cleaned up Kallis with a quick arm ball off the sixth. That left Bangalore with 30 to win from six balls and it proved too much for Mark Boucher, who still hit two sixes and a four. Eleven out of 16 matches have been won by sides chasing but Bangalore failed to master two crafty bowlers when it mattered most. Delhi, despite the departure of Vettori, remain one of the better sides in the tournament.

Delhi Daredevils v Bangalore Royal Challengers-Preview

Match facts Wednesday April 30, 2008 Start time 20.00 (local), 14.30 (GMT) The Big Picture Both teams are coming off defeats in their previous games, which makes Wednesday's encounter at the Feroz Shah Kotla all the more interesting. Bangalore Royal Challengers missed a golden opportunity to score a win in front of their home crowd on Monday, choking in the face of some disciplined bowling by the Chennai Super Kings. That defeat, their third in four games, leaves them at the bottom of the points table but they are a much better team than their form suggests. Delhi, on the other hand, came apart against an inspired Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, where their middle order was tested for the first time and Mohammad Asif and Glenn McGrath were unusually subdued. Back on home ground, Delhi should start as favourites. Watch out for ... ... Virender Sehwag taking on Dale Steyn. Sehwag took him apart during the first Test against South Africa in Chennai recently, where his early onslaught set the tone for his record-breaking 319. Ross Taylor, if he plays, facing Daniel Vettori should also make for an interesting battle of New Zealanders, as both would like to sign off their IPL campaigns in style. Team news Vettori plays his final game of the IPL before heading to England and his selection seems a certainty. He could replace Farveez Maharoof, who had a rare bad day in Mohali, leaking 31 off three overs. Delhi would also welcome AB de Villiers' arrival from South Africa and his inclusion could see Shoaib Malik making way. Delhi Daredevils (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Manoj Tiwary, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Rajat Bhatia, 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 Vijaykumar Yomahesh, 10 Mohammad Asif, 11 Glenn McGrath. Bangalore will check on the fitness of Anil Kumble, who missed the previous game. Misbah-ul-Haq, a reputed Twenty20 player, would be raring to get a game and could come in place of Jacques Kallis, whose appeared uncharacteristically flat in all four games. B Akhil pulled up with an injury against Chennai which leaves the slot open for another seamer, or a spinner in KP Appanna. Bangalore Royal Challengers (probable) 1 Wasim Jaffer, 2 Rahul Dravid (capt), 3 Ross Taylor 4 Bharath Chipli, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Virat Kohli, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 KP Appanna. Stats and trivia The biggest margin of victory in terms of wickets is nine, and Delhi have figured in two of them. Clearly, they are a dangerous side when set a target. Misbah-ul-Haq is the second highest run-getter in Twenty20 internationals with 338 runs. Daniel Vettori has an impressive economy rate of 5.50 in Twenty20 internationals. Quotes "This is a long tournament and I think the defeat actually helped us identify certain grey areas and address those issues." Rajat Bhatia, the Delhi allrounder, thinks the defeat against Punjab could be a blessing in disguise. "We are lagging behind in the tournament and every match from now on is important for us. At this stage, we just cannot afford to make a mistake." Rahul Dravid, the Bangalore captain, demands improvement

Delhi Daredevils

Delhi Daredevils Owner: GMR Holdings Franchise fee: $84 million Most expensive player: Virender Sehwag - $833,750 Captain: Virender Sehwag Coach: Greg Shipperd Players: Virender Sehwag Gautam Gambhir Shoaib Malik AB de Villiers Dinesh Karthik Glenn McGrath Mohammad Asif Tillakaratne Dilshan Pradeep Sangwan Daniel Vettori Brett Geeves Farveez Maharoof Rajat Bhatia Shikhar Dhawan Tejashwi Yadav Yo Mahesh Mithun Manhas Amit Mishra Yogesh Nagar Manoj Tiwary Mayank Tehlan