It's double header Sunday and the first encounter is between Lucknow Super Giants and Delhi Capitals. The Super Giants are in good touch after winning back to back matches, while DC's inconsistency lead them to 6th on the points table.
Delhi Capitals: Ups and downs are throughout the tournament for Pants' Delhi. Some positive cases and injuries affected the balance of this team. Out of form Nortje is the big drawback for Capitals this year. Prithvi Shaw's all or nothing innings put the pressure on others and Pant struggling to maintain his presence in the tournament. This year's Delhi is completely different from last year's. The consistency and the attacking bowling are all missing on this side. The Lord labelled Shardul is yet to make his impact and has failed horribly. The only positive for them is Warner getting starts and Kuldeep dominating on the other hand.
Lucknow Super Giants: The batting order of the team and the captaincy of Rahul is both unpredictable. The in and out Pandey and vacant No 3 spot has been the issue for them. Super Giants has not yet utilised Stoinis the bowler. Super Giants win the matches from others' mistakes. They might struggle in the race for playoffs. But as far as Rahul is scoring runs and bowlers taking wickets, nothing to be worried for the team to clinch the top 3 spot. Quinton de Kock and Rahul will be the key for them. The X factor Chameera is too good in the powerplay and can smack some runs in the end.
Probable Playing XI:
Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton De kock (wk), KL Rahul (C), Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Jason Holder, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Dushmantha Chameera
Delhi Capitals: David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (C & WK), Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Rovman Powell, Shardul Thakur, Mustafizur Rahman, Kuldeep Yadav, Chetan Sakariya / Khaleel Ahmed
Venue Details:
Date and Time: 1st May 2022, 3:30 pm
Venue: Wankhede Stadium
Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar
Pitch Report:
The first four games at the Wankhede Stadium were won by teams chasing. But that has been turned upside down since, with the last five games all being won by teams defending a target. In the last Game, DC chased down the target. The choice to make at the toss could well prove to be a very difficult one for the captains, particularly for Pant who had lost the first game against Super Giants this season while defending the target.
Interesting facts:
Ayush Badoni finished with a 4 and 6 in the last match against DC this season.
The Delhi Capitals team has the U-19 WC winning captains in Prithvi Shaw (2018) and Yash Dhull (2022) and a spinner in Vicky Ostwal and one would be interestingly waiting to see the debuts for Yash Dhull and Vicky Ostwal to happen.
Ayush Badoni made his Twenty20 debut on 11 January 2021, for Delhi in the 2020–21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and would be now facing his home team in the IPL match being held.
Dream 11 Team:
