Not a lot between the teams as DC host SRH in reverse fixture

At the halfway mark in their campaigns, both Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad are looking for that second wind as they begin the unforgiving second half of the season with their reverse meet-up at Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla ground. On form and at their home ground, the Capitals do look like the team that enjoys the upper hand going into Saturday's (April 29) double-header but there's not a lot separating the two sides in IPL 2023. Besides NRR of course, which means despite only two wins and four points each, SRH are placed slightly better off at the ninth spot in the standings as opposed to their bottom-placed hosts.

The Capitals picked up a second successive win against the same rivals, in Hyderabad last week, by defending what seemed a sub-par 144/9 halfway into the game courtesy the spin choke, that's been their strength, and a fine captaincy display from David Warner. For SRH in that game the only bright spot was Washington Sundar's return to form with the ball in hand, but they've since lost the services of the India all-rounder due to a season-ending hamstring injury.

At the core of their struggles, for both the teams, has been that missing spark in batting. DC have managed to snap their five-match losing streak they started the season with, with two wins on the bounce now but Warner has been over-burdened at the top of the order and the only one consistently among runs (which probably somewhat justifies his middling strike-rate this year). The support at the other end has been constantly missing. With Prithvi Shaw not firing, Mitch Marsh only just about beginning to show glimpses of his batting prowess and Rishabh Pant unavailable, DC have been guilty of frequent chopping and changing in search of an ideal combination. Shaw has just got the axe and could likely stay out for foreseeable future, or so hinted head coach Ricky Ponting.

SRH, too, have deviated from their first-choice opening combination, and have struggled thus far to pin down that best XI. In order to shield Harry Brook from the unfavourable match-up against spinners, the Englishman has now been promoted to the opener's role which has resulted in both Mayank Agarwal and Abhishek Sharma being shunted up and down giving their batting order a very unsettled look. Barring Brook's century, their batting displays have lacked the firepower. It's been a start-stop first-half for SRH, losing and winning two each of the first-four before going on another (ongoing) losing streak of three that they'll be desperate to break away from before being relegated to the elimination race instead.

When:Saturday, April 29 at 7:30 PM IST

Where:Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi

What to expect: The captains have preferred chasing in Delhi, and been successful on all three occasions thus far in the season. Weatherwise, Delhi has been a bit kind by its summer standards with temperatures still hovering only in the early 30s and a bit of a shower around occasionally. A cloudy day with 20% precipitation chances is forecast for Saturday.

Teams watch

Delhi Capitals

Like he told the press, Ponting, alongwith Warner, had a lengthy 25-minute sit-down with the DC batting group on the sidelines of their practice session on match eve. Both the Australians addressed the group, which Ponting had earlier said would be about trying to address why the good work in the nets is not really translating into success on the field. Otherwise, the hosts are unlikely to make any tweaks to their winning combination. Mukesh Yadav proved an excellent Impact Sub and would likely be reprising the role.

Tactics & match-ups: Kotla is another ground David Warner absolutely loves, having scored 885 runs here, including seven fifties and a hundred, in 31 outings. At no. 5, the DC captain is the only batter from the side among the top-15 batters. But his season strike-rate of just 119.53 would be a cause of concern for the side.

Probable XI:David Warner (C), Philip Salt (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Manish Pandey, Sarfaraz Khan, Axar Patel, Aman Hakim Khan, Ripal Patel, Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma

Sunrisers Hyderabad

With Washington ruled out, SRH could look to strengthen their batting with a proper batter/finisher at no. 7 instead and have him swapped for an Impact Sub (or vice-versa, depending on whether they bat first or bowl). Having chipped in two unbeaten cameos earlier in the season, Abdul Samad could be the frontrunner to fill in. Meanwhile, Brook spent his time in the nets stepping out often and tonking quite a few of them down the ground, and a couple over the non-existent keeper's head - more so against slower bowlers, in anticipation of what DC will likely be throwing at him tomorrow.

Tactics & match-ups:Aiden Markram (SR: 245.45) and Rahul Tripathi (SR: 200) have the wood on Kuldeep Yadav, making this middle-overs tussle one to watch-out for where the conditions could actually be in the favour of the spinner.

Probable XI:Abhishek Sharma, Harry Brook, Aiden Markram (C), Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Marco Jansen, Abdul Samad, Mayank Markande, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik

Did you know?

- Markram (141.12) and Klaasen (145.3) both have a strike-rate above 140 in T20 cricket since the beginning of 2022.

-Bhuvneshwar Kumar has dismissed Manish Pandey four times in IPL, conceding only at a run-a-ball to him in the 22 deliveries.

What they said?

"It's been a challenge for David as it has been for all of us. When you are 7 games in and you've only won two, it's a challenging time. We can't hide from that. We are working hard probably as hard as any other team in the tournament to try and win every game that we can. And, so far it hasn't worked out the way we wanted to. But, David has been a consistent run-scorer at the top, he needs some more support around him from our top-order batters which will make things a bit easier" - Ricky Ponting

"We certainly appreciate the fact that we have to win hopefully all our remaining games, or at least a lot of them, to stand a chance to qualify. But we're trying to take our mind off of that. I think if you focus too much on that you forget the things that need to be done in order for the bigger picture to look after itself. So we're in this position because we unfortunately haven't played our best cricket as a team but we are pretty much halfway through now and we've got seven opportunities now going forward to improve at least but also to get to that really good brand of cricket we want to play." - Aiden Markram