 The Delhi Daredevils will play the Kochi Tuskers Kerala in the 41st match
of the Indian premier league. The game will be a night match and will be
hosted by the Ferozshah Kotla stadium in New Delhi. Thss will be a home
game for Delhi Daredevils and given the totally different nature of the
Kotla track, they will have an advantage.
Interestingly, both the teams have won 3 matches out of 8 games. Delhi's 3 wins
have come at regular intervals while Kochi has won all 3 in a cluster. In fact,
Kochi started out with 2 losses, then won 3 in succession before losing 3 in a
row. The last of these defeats cam against Delhi itself. That was a home game
for Kochi and on a pitch that was difficult to bat on. The Kochi bowlers lost
their focus and the batsmen struggled.
Click for Live Score Card of Delhi Daredevils Vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala
The Kotla pitch will be a new test for the Kochi batsmen. They will need to ensure
that they can overcome the issues associated with the low bounce and the slow
nature of the Kotla track.
Kochi will depend on their top 3 batsmen. Brendon McCullum had won 2
man of the match awards in a row but has flopped in the last 2 games. Jayawardene's
form has been anything but good while Brad Hodge has yet to come to the party.
On the bowling front, RP Singh and Sreesanth have done well together in the last
2 matches. Where the problems have compounded are at the end of the innings where
the bowlers have bowled far too many loose deliveries, In fact in the last game
that was played between these two teams, Delhi scored 45 runs in the first 10
overs and 100 in the next 10. Kochi will have to safe guard agains this again.
Not that Delhi have been performing too well. They will know that another loss
here would mean an end of their campaign in the IPL this year. In order to overcome
this, they will need some help from their wicket for the fast bowlers. The good
news for Delhi is that Irfan Pathan has finally shown some signs of form
and will look to continue batting and bowling in the same vein.
Sehwag's knock at the top of the innings will be crucial while Dave Warner will
look to give him company. Delhi will be favourites to win this and knock Kochi
out of the tournament.
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