Delhi geared up for below-par Chennai

Match facts

Thursday, May 8, 2008
Start time 16.00 (local), 10.30 (GMT)

The Big Picture

The Chennai Super Kings, who blazed away in the early stages of the IPL, only to plunge into a batting crisis, will face a severe examination against the Delhi Daredevils in the first return match of the tournament. The loss of their Australian imports - Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey, continues to hurt, while Mahendra Singh Dhoni's best knock has been 65 against the Bangalore Royal Challengers. Delhi will be the favourites after their nine-wicket mauling when they last met, and they will be eager to recover from the blip against the Mumbai Indians (the only occasion they were bowled out). They have the added incentive of taking second spot in the league tables if they win.

Delhi have a well-stocked batting arsenal at their disposal. At least two of their top three batsman - Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, and Shikhar Dhawan - have fired in their victories. In comparision, Chennai's best three batsmen in terms of aggregate (with the exception of Hayden and Hussey) - Dhoni, Suresh Raina, and Albie Morkel - haven't had the same say in Chennai's matches. Chennai have added concerns - Parthiv Patel has not made a significant knock in seven outings, while Stephen Fleming has proved to be an inadequate replacement for Hayden at the top. Raina has looked in superb touch but not capitalised on his starts. Another issue is that poor starts have led to their last two setbacks, as they failed to reach 50 or 100 at more than a run-a-ball.

A look at the bowling also shows the wide gulf between the two sides. Glenn McGrath has formed a telling opening combine with Mohammad Asif, while Yo Mahesh and Rajat Bhatia have done a more than decent job following-up. Chennai have a major headache in Makhaya Ntini, who is yet to take a wicket. Muttiah Muralitharan has not been the sensation he normally is, while Joginder Sharma's dibby-dobblers are now being found out by opposing batsmen. After taking just seven wickets in their last three games, Chennai's bowlers will need to buck up.

Tournament position

Delhi P6/W4/L2/NRR +0.761
Chennai P7/W4/L3/NRR -0.005

IPL form (last five matches)

Delhi WLWWL
Chennai WWLLL

Watch out for ...

Sehwag's offside play against Chennai's opening bowlers. Remember, he reached his fifty by the end of the seventh over in their previous game.

The battle between Muralitharan and Gambhir, one of the more accomplished players of spin.

Expect some early success from McGrath or Asif against Chennai's openers.

Two young turks from South Africa facing-off. Albie Morkel, who is AB de Villiers' team-mate at their domestic franchise, the Titans, may have the rare opportunity to bowl against him.

Dhoni playing an innings of substance to give a fillip to Chennai's hopes.

Dinesh Karthik and Yo Mahesh, originally from Chennai, will be keen to get the better of their state-mates.

Team news

Chennai may need to re-work their starting line-up in view of their latest troubles. S Anirudha, who made just 1 on his IPL debut yesterday, may replace Parthiv at the top, with S Vidyut returning to No. 3. Morkel, after his unbeaten 29 off 19 which went in vain against the Deccan Chargers, may have done enough to earn a promotion. With Ntini not showing the bowling form expected of him, Chennai may consider the option of playing with only three foreign players and bring in P Amarnath.

Chennai (probable) 1 Stephen Fleming, 2 S Anirudha/Parthiv Patel, 3 Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Albie Morkel, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 S Badrinath, 8 Joginder Sharma, 9 Manpreet Gony, 10 Makhaya Ntini/P Amarnath, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

Despite coming into the game on the back of the loss, Delhi are likely to retain the same XI. They would not want to tinker with their top-half, and it will be difficult for Farveez Maharoof to earn a place as the team seems to be settling into the strategy of picking two batsman and two bowlers from among their foreign options.

Delhi (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Manoj Tiwary, 8 Rajat Bhatia, 9 Yo Mahesh, 10 Mohammad Asif, 11 Glenn McGrath.

McGrath's 4 for 29 against Bangalore are the second-best figures in the tournament.

Sehwag needs just 12 runs more to reclaim the Orange Cap, given to the highest-cumulative run-scorer, from Rohit Sharma. If he hits one more six, he will have 15 to his name, which will get him on par with Brendon McCullum and Adam Gilchrist.

Delhi feature in second and third spot for the highest partnerships in the tournament.

"I am myself surprised as how good my body is feeling at the moment. It has been doing good so far, hope it remains the same in future."
Glenn McGrath has some bad news for opposing batsman in the IPL

"Of course, we missed Hayden and Hussey. They are world-class players. But nothing can be done, we have to look forward and win as many matches as possible. We hope the process starts from tomorrow itself."
Kepler Wessels, Chennai's coach, says the team should learn to live without their big-hitting Australian players