Four wins on the trot and Sunrisers Hyderabad understandably have springs in their steps. Bouncing on top of the table, the buoyant bunch would take that confidence into their final home game against Delhi Daredevils, who come into Thursday’s match here on the back of two demoralising defeats.
The visitors are caught up in mid-table clutter, seldom a safe sector. It is this uncertainty that fuels Delhi’s desperation to climb higher and ensure they are better placed when it comes to the playoffs.
The Eagles are sitting pretty though, looking down at their opponents. With 14 points and a healthy run rate — thanks to their thumping win over Mumbai Indians — the explosive Sunrisers would look to place themselves in the Qualifier, rather than the Eliminator zone at the end of the league stage.
Having won four of the six matches this season at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, the Eagles are doubly dangerous at home. That the game would be their last in front of the Orange Army, as their supporters are known, would be an added incentive to dish out another red hot show on the night.
Sunrisers will once again bank on the batting big two of David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan to clatter quick runs in their bid for a flying start. Expect Kane Williamson, Moises Henriques, Yuvraj Singh and others to accelerate and work up wind beneath the Eagles’ wings.
Well, their bowling attack is menacing to say the least. The left-arm seamers have so far been right on the money, rattling rivals to their boots. The miserly Mustafizur Rahman, Ashish Nehra and Barinder Sran have delivered to captain’s Warner’s delight while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Moises have played admirable support roles.
However, the hosts would do well to have their best plans laid out against Quinton de Kock and Carlos Brathwaite, men who can give the ball some whack as displayed in ample measure. Add Chris Morris and you’re sitting on a bomb. Then there are J.P. Duminy, Sam Billings and Sanju Samson who too pose a threat with the willow.
Delhi’s bowling does not appear as formidable though.
It hasn’t really worked for them in the previous two games and that should haunt them. The Daredevils will have to summon killer instinct in that department if they are to prey on the soaring Eagles. That would be quite a contest.
