Sports Pundit
Cricket

Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab at Delhi IPL Live

The Match: The 26th game of the Indian Premier League will be played between the Delhi Daredevils and the Kings XI Punjab.

The Match: The 26th game of the Indian Premier League will be played between the Delhi Daredevils and the Kings XI Punjab. The match will be played at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi this Saturday and will be a night game. Will look to ensure he gets the wickets>

How the two teams match up: The Delhi Daredevils have not had the best of the starts in the tournament. They lost two in a row, then won one before losing another one to have only one win from four games. As compared to that, the Kings XI Punjab have clearly surpassed the expectations of most of the sides. After losing their first game to the Pune Warriors, they have bounced back well to win three matches in a row and will now be the side to watch out for. Will he get going?>

The game will be a home game for the Daredevils and hence, will be one in which Delhi may seek to have a slight edge over the opponents.

Ground Conditions: Till the previous game, the pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla was a slow and a low one and made life difficult for the pace bowlers and the batsmen. However, it has been said that the curator will unveil a grassy-track for this game to allow the faster men to come into their own as well.

The Teams: Delhi will look to ensure that they can get their combination right for this one. The side has not had great batting from the top-order and the pace bowling has fallen away. One gets the sense that more than changing their playing eleven around, it could be a matter of doing the job in the right manner – Sehwag needs to bat longer than he does and Morne Morkel needs to get his channels right and turn into a wicket-taking bowler than a containing one.

For Punjab, there are no issues like these, but they will need to ensure that even in the absence of an innings of substance from their man in form, Paul Valthaty, the side does its job well. Adam Gilchrist, much like Sehwag, at the top needs to get the runs flowing while some like Dinesh Karthik and Abhishek Nayar will look to reinvent their batting style – quick runs could be the need of the hour.

Players to look out for: Shaun Marsh for the Kings XI Punjab and Aaron Finch for the Daredevils.

Prediction: Punjab will make it four in four because they have the bowlers to exploit the green pitch.