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The Sunrisers will be taking on DC in Match 20th of the IPL 2021. The game will take place in Chennai on Sunday.
While the Capitals are in the upper half of the points table with three wins from four matches, Hyderabad are languishing in the bottom half of the standings with just one victory and three losses from their four games.
SRH, though, have previously beaten Punjab Kings and will be feeling rejuvenated after ending their three-match losing streak.
The newly-found shift in momentum will make sure SRH feel upbeat over their chances of defeating DC, who also got the better of defending champions Mumbai Indians in their last match.
Key Players
Shikhar Dhawan has been the in-form batsman for DC this season. The experienced left-hand batter has scored 231 runs, including two half-centuries, from his 4 innings in the tournament so far at an average of 57.75 and strike-rate of 148.07. In the IPL 2020 last winter as well, Dhawan had dominated the bowling, scoring two hundreds in his tournament tally of 618 runs while averaging 44.14 and carrying a strike-rate of 144.73.
Prithvi Shaw has missed out in the last three matches, but the aggressive right-hand batter kick-started the tournament in stellar fashion when he smashed a 72 off 38 balls in the win over Chennai Super Kings. Shaw had arrived into the IPL 2021 with some excellent form under his belt as he topped the run-charts in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Mumbai. Shaw made 827 runs, including four centuries, from his 8 innings, while averaging a whopping 165.40 and scoring at a strike-rate of 138.29. Shaw will raring to go after few failures behind him and eye another impactful knock for DC against SRH.
Amit Mishra was DC’s hero in the last match against MI. The veteran leg-spinner took 4 wickets in his magnificent four-over spell of 4/24 to help DC restrict the much-vaunted MI batting unit to just 137/9 in 20 overs. Mishra’s incisiveness with the ball allowed DC to come out triumphant by six wickets at the end. Mishra is one of the legends of IPL cricket with a stellar record behind him. DC’s willy old fox has taken 164 wickets from 153 matches at an average of 23.91 and an economy rate of 7.34. He will be extremely crucial to DC’s chances against SRH on the surface in Chepauk.
Jonny Bairstow is sitting comfortably at the top of the run-charts among SRH batters in the IPL 2021 so far. The ever-improving England limited-overs right-hand batter has made 173 runs from his 4 innings at an average of 57.66 and strike-rate of 132.06. Bairstow was one of the heroes of SRH’s only win of the competition to date, as he struck a measured half-century versus PBKS. Bairstow has now played 25 games in his overall IPL career with 963 runs at an average of 43.77 and strike-rate of 140.37. If Bairstow continues his rich vein of form, DC may just find themselves in trouble against SRH.
Rashid Khan, inarguably one of the world’s best spinners in T20 cricket, has taken 5 wickets from 4 matches while going for only 5.06 runs per over. The incredible Afghan cricketer’s variations still pose a question mark, which most IPL batters have found no answer to. Rashid has taken 80 wickets from 66 matches in his overall IPL career with an economy rate of just 6.17. Rashid will be another dangerous man for the DC batting unit at Chepauk where his skittish nature will only make it tougher for batsmen to pick him.
Prediction
The teams have gone in separate directions since the beginning of the tournament. While last year’s runners-up DC have looked the more power-packed side, SRH are struggling from major issues despite boasting of talented personnel.
SRH seems to be in the no-ending loop of having to revisit their balance as a team, with their inexperienced Indian batting and Indian bowling holding the team back for a while now.
And though DC also have been a touch inconsistent with their batting and can further improve with the ball, they’ve still been better placed as a unit than their opposition.
DC are expected to hold the upper hand in this contest.
