Having been inaugural members of the IPL, but only ever having qualified for the semi-finals on three occasions, and never having contested a Grand Final, the Delhi Daredevils are often seen as something of an easy touch for the so called big guns. That certainly isn’t the case in 2016.
After seven games in the qualifying process, the Daredevils have five wins and just two defeats. A proud record that leaves them in second position in the table, following Monday’s emphatic in Rajkot against the table leaders the Gujarat Lions. The Daredevils also have the advantage of having played less matches than all of their rivals who currently occupy the rest of the top four positions.
With the Supergiants struggling in this their first season in the IPL, Delhi will hope to cement their position by claiming a sixth victory on Thursday.
The Supergiants are one of the three teams currently on four points, the others being the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the KIngs XI Punjab, all of whom are on the cusp of dropping out of the race for a post-season place in the knockout phase of the IPL.
The newly formed franchise from Pune have managed just two wins from eight matches so far in 2016, and are sixth in the table, four points adrift of the vital fourth position. They started with a shock win in the tournament’s opening fixture against the reigning Champions the Mumbai Indians, but their only other success came in a rain affected contest, via the D/L method against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.