IPL 2018, Delhi Daredevils vs Rajasthan Royals Preview: Bottom-Placed DD Host Inconsistent RR
Delhi Daredevils (DD), languishing at the bottom of the IPL 2018 points table, will be looking to keep their play-offs hopes alive when they take on an inconsistent Rajasthan Royals at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi on Wednesday evening. Shreyas Iyer won his first match as DD captain against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) but slumped to an 11-run defeat against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Monday night. Having already played eight matches, Iyer will have to treat all the upcoming matches as must-win in order to make it to the top four.
For Delhi, captain Iyer and wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant have done the bulk of the scoring, amassing 306 and 257 runs respectively and the responsibility will be on them again to lead their team from the front.
Big guns Glenn Maxwell (126 runs in seven matches), Jason Roy (97 in three matches) and Colin Munro (63 runs in four matches) have not made significant contributions so far and Delhi would be hoping for them to start performing now.
Among the bowlers, Trent Boult, with 11 wickets in his kitty, has been fighting a lone battle as none of the other Delhi bowlers have risen to the occasion.
Rajasthan Royals (RR), on the other hand, are placed sixth in the table with six points from seven matches. Ajinkya Rahane’s team has been inconsistent this season with three wins from seven matches.
Their failure to chase down a target of 151/7 against SunRisers Hyderabad saw RR lose the match by 11 runs. Despite Rahane scoring a 65 and Sanju Samson hitting a 40 they didn’t get support from other batsmen.
Rahane and Samson have been their best batsmen this season but out-of-form Ben Stokes and Jos Butler have not been able effective with the bat.
Among the bowlers, pacer Jofra Archer has done well to claim six wickets in the two matches that he has played so far. But RR’s spinners Shreyas Gopal and K Gowtham have failed to trouble the batsmen much, taking five wickets each.
Squads:
Delhi Daredevils: Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Rishabh Pant, Glenn Maxwell, Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Colin Munro, Mohammed Shami, Amit Mishra, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Daniel Christian, Jayant Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Trent Boult, Manjot Kalra, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane, Naman Ojha, Sayan Ghosh, Liam Plunkett, Junior Dala.
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Jofra Archer, Stuart Binny, Aryaman Birla, Jos Buttler, Dushmantha Chameera, Prashant Chopra, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Heinrich Klaasen, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ben Laughlin, Mahipal Lomror, Sudhesan Midhun, Sanju Samson, Jatin Saxena, D’Arcy Short, Ish Sodhi, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi, Jaydev Unadkat.
