IPL 2017, Preview, DD vs GL: Delhi Seek More Points Against Cornered Gujarat

Delhi Daredevils (DD) are dreaming again. After a streak of losses that spanned five matches, the Delhi outfit finally got more points on the table when they beat Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday. They now need to get past Gujarat Lions (GL) on Thursday, as well as all other rivals, before they can even think about the next round. At the same time, GL too need to keep tallying points, since with 6 points from 10 matches, they suddenly find themselves below DD on the table, and precariously placed at 7th position.

Mathematically, Daredevils are in the fray but they will have to win all their remaining matches and hope for favourable results from other games.

Gujarat Lions are all but out of the race as they are struggling at the second last position in the eight-team tournament with just six points from 10 games.

Having finished an impressive third in their inaugural season last year, it turned out to be a disappointing campaign for the Lions in 2017. Only a miracle from here on might see them qualify for the knock-out stages.

GL come into the match following consecutive losses, which includes the demoralizing defeat against Mumbai Indians in a Super Over at Rajkot, which more or less demolished their chances.

Squads:

Delhi Daredevils: Karun Nair (capt), Angelo Mathews, Corey Anderson, Kagiso Rabada, Pat Cummins, Ankit Bawne, Aditya Tare, Murugan Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Shashank Singh, Mohammed Shami, Shahbaz Nadeem, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Chris Morris, Carlos Brathwaite, Rishabh Pant, Chama Milind, Khaleel Ahmed, Pratyush Singh, Marlon Samuels.

Gujarat Lions: Suresh Raina (capt), Akshadeep Nath, Basil Thampi, Shubham Agarwal, Dwayne Smith, Chirag Suri, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Manpreet Gony, Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, Shadab Jakati, Dinesh Karthik, Dhaval Kulkarni, Praveen Kumar, Brandon McCullum, Pradeep Sangwan, Jaydev Shah, Shelly Shaurya, Nathu Singh, Tejas Baroka.

(With inputs from PTI)