Winning small passages of the game is very necessary to eventually win the game and that is what Delhi Capitals will be hoping that they manage to do in their match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Before going on a short break, Delhi Capitals have won six and lost four in 10 matches thus far in the campaign and are placed fifth in the points table, with 12 points.
It's about winning moments in the game. We've been doing that really well in most of the games that we've played, and are sitting in a decent position. But having said that, we need to go out there and play with a lot of freedom.
“We've had a bit of a break just to have a reset. So we've had time as a team to go back to the things that we were doing well. It's about peaking at the right time,” he added.
Asked about the playoffs qualifying scenario and plans for the upcoming matches, the 33-year-old batter said, “Every time we go out there, we look to win. So we would like to win tomorrow and keep going further in the tournament. The talk (in the dressing room) is only about what we can control and what we can improve on. What we can control is how we play and we win our games. We can't keep looking behind us or in front of us."
I think I'm still batting well. It’s about converting those 20 runs to bigger scores. That's where you can change matches for your team and making those 15 or 20 runs is also impactful sometimes.
DC get into this clash after suffering back-to-back defeats to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at home. Set to take the field after a five-day break and with the playoffs race intensifying, DC need victories to go back into the top four of the points table.
Their rivals, Sunrisers Hyderabad are in the penultimate position with six points from 10 matches. The Pat Cummins-led side is in a must-win situation as it will be eliminated if it loses another game.
Their performance has been inconsistent. Opener Abhishek Sharma has scored a hundred and fifty but his opening partner Travis Head has not been able to contribute a lot. Their middle-order has been fragile while the bowlers too have struggled against top opponents.
In the last five matches, SRH has lost three and won two. Delhi Capitals too have done the same. In overall analysis, Susnrisers Hyderabad have won 13 of the 25 matches played between the two teams while Delhi Capitals have won 12 matches.
Probable playing XIs: Delhi Capitals: Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel, Karun Nair, KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel (capt), Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Ashutosh Sharma
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (capt), Harshal Patel, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Mohammed Shami/Simarjeet Singh, 12 Zeeshan Ansari.
