Going into Thursday’s contest, the two sides occupy sixth and seventh places in the qualifying table, each of them having collected just six points, which leaves them a massive seven points adrift of fourth placed Sunrisers Hyderabad. Although Delhi have two games in hand and Gujarat have one game in hand on the Sunrisers.
The Daredevils climbed above Thursday’s opponents when they secured a fine and unexpected victory over the Sunrisers on Tuesday, when they chased down an imposing 186 to win the game, with five balls remaining of their allotted 20 overs. That victory, ended a run of five straight losses for the Daredevils, having won two of their first three outings of 2017.
The Lions were beaten in their most recent fixture, by the Rising Pune Supergiants. In their previous fixture, they were beaten in a Super Over “shootout” by the Mumbai Indians. Their most recent victory came in match No.31 against the hapless Royal Challengers Bangalore.
With just four qualifying fixtures left to play, Gujarat need four victories to have any chance at all of making it into the knockout stages, and even then they will need other results to go their way, if they are to extend their season beyond the qualifying phase.
The two sides are facing each other for the first time this season on Thursday. The two fixtures between the teams in 2016 ended with one victory apiece.