The State of Play
The record-breaking Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to continue their march up the IPL 2024 table when they take on the Delhi Capitals tomorrow.
Pat Cummins’ men have won four of their last five games and head to the Arun Jaitley Stadium on the back of another remarkable batting display on Monday.
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Inspired by Travis Head’s incredible 102 off just 41 balls, the Sunrisers made 287 for three against a helpless Royal Challengers Bengaluru to set a new highest total in IPL history, beating the mark of 277 they themselves set against the Mumbai Indians earlier in the season.
RCB did their level best to make it a contest by scoring 262 in reply as the teams combined for 549 runs, the most ever in a T20 contest.
Afterwards, Head credited Cummins and head coach Dan Vettori for giving him and his fellow batters licence to attack early on.
“It’s proper batting. We’ve wanted to be exciting the whole time, and we’ve wanted to take the game on, and Pat and then Dan have put pressure on the batting line-up to make sure we try and maximise the powerplay and then keep going,” said the Australia star.
The task of trying to stop the Sunrisers juggernaut will fall on a Capitals bowling line-up that impressed last time out, dismissing the Gujarat Titans for just 89 as Rishabh Pant’s side cruised to a six-wicket win in Ahmedabad.
Pace trio Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed and Mukesh Kumar will be complemented by spin options Kuldeep Yadav and Tristan Stubbs in what appears to be a classic contest between bat and ball.
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The win over the Titans saw another impressive cameo from Head’s fellow Australian Jake Fraser-McGurk whose 14 from the opening over of the Capitals’ reply set the tone for a routine chase.
He said: “We [Capitals] have got confidence in the way we play, we know how to go about our business. Took us a few games to find that out.
“We jumped up a few steps on the ladder here. We keep going [like this], who knows…”
If the Sunrisers do have a weakness it is a bowling attack that has shipped runs this season. Only Cummins has an economy rate under eight. Experienced duo Jaydev Unadkat and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have yet to shine while spinners Mayank Markande and Shahbaz Ahmed have come in for some stick.
Expect Pant, Fraser-McGurk and Co to go on the offensive in what could be another run-fest.
𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐋𝐘𝐘𝐘 🏠🥹 pic.twitter.com/vVyRamovZ8
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) April 19, 2024
Expected line-ups
Delhi Capitals: Shaw, Fraser-McGurk, Hope, Pant (c,wk), Kumar, Stubbs, Patel, Yadav, Sharma, Kumar, Ahmed
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Sharma, Head, Klaasen (wk), Markram, Samad, Ahmed, Cummins (c), Kumar, Unadkat, Natarajan, Markande
How to watch
Sky have the rights to show the IPL to UK viewers in 2024 and will broadcast every game live. Saturday’s match will be shown on Sky Sports Cricket from 2.50pm BST.
In India, the games can be streamed on the Jio Cinema app and website. They are also available across the Star Sports Network.
If you’re parking your cars by the Arun Jaitley Stadium… You’ve been warned 👀💥 pic.twitter.com/syFFcUjDUw
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) April 18, 2024
Prediction
The Sunrisers possess so many potential matchwinners it is hard to bet against them. Head is the obvious dangerman but Pant will also be fully aware of the threat posed by big-hitting South African duo Heinrich Klaasen, who smashed 67 off 31 balls against RCB, and Aiden Markram.
But he will take encouragement from their bowling woes.
Indeed, you could make a case for the Capitals having the better bowling line-up, particularly if Yadav can find his range.
And on that basis, we are going for the Capitals to spring a surprise and earn a fourth win in eight games.
