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Barisal crush Rajshahi and consolidate top spot

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Barisal Division took pole position in Tier-2 of the National Cricket League after a crushing eight-wicket win over Rajshahi Division

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Oct-2015Barisal Division took pole position in Tier-2 of the National Cricket League after a crushing eight-wicket win over Rajshahi Division. The win took Barisal to 53 points, 16 clear of second-placed Rajshahi.Barisal’s decision to bowl first paid off as they reduced Rajshahi to 36 for 7 by the second hour on the first day. The home side were eventually bowled out for 119 runs, with medium-pacers Tawhidul Islam and Salman Hossain taking five wickets apiece.Shahriar Nafees (80) and Fazle Mahmud (51), the Barisal captain, lead Barisal’s reply with a 99-run second-wicket stand. The innings was then driven ahead by Al-Amin, who struck a breezy 71, as Barisal took a 192-run first-innings lead. Shafaq Al Zabir and Sunzamul Islam took four wickets each.Rajshahi began their second innings well with openers Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Junaid Siddique adding 59 runs, but lost their way thereafter. That they avoided an innings defeat was courtesy Farhad Reza’s 66, which set Barisal a target of 67. Nafees and Salman had little trouble in steering the side to victory halfway into the third day.

Strengthened Sri Lanka eye series win

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A strengthened Sri Lanka side will be aiming to complete a series win in the second ODI against a weakened West Indies outfit

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando03-Nov-2015

Match facts

November 4, 2015
Start time 1430 local (0900 GMT)1:05

‘Have to be ready for what comes our way’ – Baptiste

Big Picture

Spectators who came to the opening ODI spent much of their time wondering if the rains would relent long enough to allow the game’s completion. In the end, they were rewarded for their patience with a shortened match that featured myriad peaks and troughs for either team, hairpin bends, collapses and dropped catches, all leading to a delicious climax featuring unlikely heroes. Sri Lanka should have sauntered to victory after the start Tillakaratne Dilshan had given them. Instead, they had their middle order exposed by spin – not for the first time this home season – and squeaked home thanks to a steady hand from Ajantha Mendis.What the exercise suggested, was that while there was a chasm between the quality of the Test teams, West Indies and Sri Lanka are well-matched in the shorter formats. Sri Lanka have a better top order, but West Indies have finishers who can put the ball into orbit. The hosts’ seam attack is more reliable, but in Sunil Narine, West Indies have a spinner who can send a whole section of the batting order tumbling, in an over. With daily rains around now, shortening of matches may suit the visitors’ explosive brand of cricket.Sri Lanka will be strengthened, and West Indies weakened for the second ODI, however. Dinesh Chandimal is available for Sri Lanka again, after having served his one-match ban for an altercation with Ishant Sharma in August. Jason Holder, meanwhile, is suspended for the match due to slow over rates in the previous match, and Andre Russell remains in doubt due to the abdominal strain he sustained during the previous match. Those changes are significant. Holder and Russell had been West Indies’ best batsmen in the first ODI, and Chandimal’s return helps steady a wobbly middle order.

Form guide

Sri Lanka: WWLLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)


West Indies: LLWLL

In the spotlight

Lahiru Thirimanne‘s Test form has been mediocre all year, but on past tours he has been a rejuvenated batsman in ODIs. The cover drives begin to find the boundary, instead of a pair of hands in the slips. The swivel pulls and slog sweeps return to his game. And the movement of his limbs no longer invite comparisons with planks of wood afflicted by rigor mortis, which they did just before he was dropped in Tests. He played his 100th ODI on Sunday, but now needs a substantial score to shore up his place in the ODI side.Marlon Samuels will have fond memories of his match-winning performance at the Premadasa Stadium in the World T20 final three years ago. His more recent outings on the island have been forgettable. Disqualified from bowling now, after allowing the 14-day grace period in which he can have his action tested to lapse, Samuels finds himself in charge of the team in Holders absence. Perhaps the extra responsibility can spark something in his batting.

Teams news

With Chandimal likely to return to the No. 4 position, Shehan Jayasuriya seems likeliest to make way from the top seven. Suranga Lakmal and a trimmer Lasith Malinga are likely to take the new ball, but Sri Lanka may consider playing tearaway quick Dushmantha Chameera ahead of one of their frontline spinners.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Kusal Perera, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Lahiru Thirimanne, 4 Dinesh Chandimal , 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Milinda Siriwardana, 7 Danushka Gunathilaka, 8 Sachithra Senanayake, 9, Ajantha Mendis 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Suranga LakmalRavi Rampaul is likely to play in Holder’s stead. The team has said it will wait till Wednesday morning to make a call on Russell’s fitness. If he can’t play, West Indies will be tempted to play batsman Jason Mohammed, who bowls a little offspin. Jonathan Carter may also be required to bowl a few overs.West Indies (probable): 1 Johnson Charles, 2 Andre Fletcher, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Jonathan Carter, 6 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 7 Andre Russell/Jason Mohammed, 8 Carlos Brathwaite, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Jerome Taylor, 11 Ravi Rampaul

Pitch and conditions

The pitch is unlikely to have changes substantially since Sunday. It had offered the seamers good bounce and a little bit of seam movement with the new ball, but the spinners got turn out of it as well.Given the weather in Colombo over the past week, expect rain delays and interruptions.

Stats and trivia

  • Despite inconsistency in Tests, Thirimanne has made steady contributions in ODIs, averaging 41.05 last year, and 39.41 so far in 2015.
  • Denesh Ramdin needs 80 runs to complete 2000 in ODIs. He averages 24.93 after 99 innings.
  • Dinesh Chandimal and Thirimanne, who debuted in 2010, have both played 100 ODIs – 16 more than Ajantha Mendis, who debuted in 2008.

SLC to refuse NOCs to 16 players for BPL

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Sri Lanka Cricket will refuse no-objection certificates to at least 16 centrally-contracted players seeking to take part in this year’s Bangladesh Premier League, an SLC official has said

Andrew Fidel Fernando and Mohammad Isam10-Nov-2015Sri Lanka Cricket will refuse no-objection certificates to at least 16 centrally-contracted players seeking to take part in this year’s Bangladesh Premier League, an SLC official has said. The board will instead insist that its cricketers take part in the upcoming Premier Limited Overs (List A) tournament at home. Some of the players who have been bought by BPL franchises may also be required for Sri Lanka’s Test tour of New Zealand, which begins in early December. The BPL runs from November 22 to December 15.

List of Sri Lankan players affected by the NOCs

Shehan Jayasuriya
Isuru Udana
Dilruwan Perera
Dhammika Prasad
Milinda Siriwardana
Binura Fernando
Ajantha Mendis
Lahiru Thirimanne
Kithuruwan Vithanage
Niroshan Dickwella
Prasanna Jayawardene
Ashan Priyanjan
Sachith Pathirana
Sachithra Senanayake
Seekkuge Prasanna
Upul Tharanga
Jeevan Mendis*

“The centrally-contracted players will not be given permission, because there is a tour of New Zealand for which the players leave on November 27,” SLC cricket operations manager Carlton Bernadus said. “The board has also taken a decision that all the centrally-contracted players who won’t be on that tour should stay back and play in the domestic tournament, which begins on November 20th.”The move is aimed to protect the quality of the Premier Limited Overs tournament, and to help ensure Sri Lanka’s clubs have their best players available to them throughout the season.BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury however said that they are confident the SLC will give the NOCs. “We are confident that SLC will give the NOCs in the next few days,” he told ESPNcricinfo on Monday evening.The BPL has requested no-objection certificates for 25 Sri Lankan players, but out of those, 17 – including the likes of Lahiru Thirimanne and Sachithra Senanayake – have central contracts.”Where there are no contracts, players can get permission from their clubs,” Bernardus said.  “For example, Dilshan Munaweera is not a contracted player, and the Bloomfield CC president has given him permission – that is fine.”SLC has focused on raising the quality of its domestic cricket this year, and has increased match fees for domestic games in an attempt to make cricket a more stable source of income for players. With a zonal tournament also in the works for the upcoming season, domestic cricketers’ earning potential has been significantly improved.”The board has invested in the players,” Bernardus said. “They have enhanced the fees to 7000 rupees per match day. If our domestic cricket is not played properly, where are we going?”Jeevan Mendis has received special permission from Tamil Union Cricket Club to play in the BPL, but the national selectors, acting on behalf of the board, may still deny him the no-objection certificate, Bernardus said. Mendis is among the 17 centrally-contracted players.

Bangladesh-Zimbabwe Test in January could go ahead

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The BCB’s cricket operations committee is in discussions to host one Test in addition to three T20s against Zimbabwe in January

Mohammad Isam23-Dec-2015Two days after BCB president Nazmul Hassan said the Test series between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in January would be shelved to concentrate on limited-overs cricket ahead of the World T20, the BCB’s cricket operations committee has announced it is in discussion with their Zimbabwean counterparts to hold one Test in January apart from three Twenty20s.The cricket operations committee chairman Naimur Rahman said that Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) had proposed the teams play five T20s in Bangladesh after their series against Afghanistan ends on January 10. But Rahman said neglecting Test cricket was rarely beneficial.”Every team is playing Test cricket during this time,” Rahman said. “They will also play in the World T20, so we have to play all the formats. We cannot avoid any of these formats. Test cricket is the real deal. We can improve in other formats if we do well in Tests. But if we just play T20s, we can’t improve properly.”We have always spoken about increasing Tests in the FTP. So there will be a negative effect on us if we don’t play Tests despite the opportunity.”The original schedule for this series featured three Tests, then it was cut to two in September and now there is a possibility of a full, if split series – one Test in Bangladesh, two Tests in Zimbabwe after the World T20. “If we play one Test here, we can play the other two there in July next year, in addition to an ODI series,” Rahman said.Rahman also added the proposed series in January will likely be played in Khulna and Sylhet since most of the other venues in the country will be busy preparing for the Under-19 World Cup that begins on January 27.Naimur also said Bangladesh will not be playing the World T20 warm-up match on March 4 since it clashes with the Asia Cup’s schedule. They will only play the warm-up game on March 6. The operations committee has also called off an initial plan to hold a training camp in Dharamsala in late January because of the different weather conditions compared to the time the World T20 will be played there.

'Can't believe what I have just seen! Embarrassing!'

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Twitter reactions to West Indies mankading for the final wicket against Zimbabwe at Under-19 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Feb-2016When West Indies’ Keemo Paul effected a mankad to claim the last Zimbabwe Under-19 wicket, it divided cricketing opinion. Many current and former players took to Twitter to condemn the act.

There were some voices of support for the mankading as well.

ICC committee rules out reviews of wrong no-ball calls

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The ICC cricket committee has ruled out the possibility of reviews of erroneous no-ball calls, on the basis that a batsman should not be judged on how he played a ball that was ruled illegal before he did so

Daniel Brettig12-Feb-2016Reviews of erroneous no-ball calls like that one that reprieved Adam Voges in Wellington have been debated and overruled by the ICC cricket committee, on the basis that the batsman should not be judged on how he played a ball that was ruled illegal before he did so.The cricket committee debates emerged in the aftermath of Voges’ fortunate escape in the final over of the day, when he shouldered arms to Doug Bracewell only to be relieved to see the sight of Richard Illingworth’s outstretched arm signalling an illegal delivery. Replays showed that Bracewell had not actually overstepped, but there is no recourse for players to ask that the on-field umpire’s call be checked.Amid widespread dismay at the sequence of events, ESPNcricinfo has learned that the scenario was the subject of discussion at the cricket committee on more than one occasion. A consistent view was maintained that the batsman’s action in playing or not playing the ball has to be considered influenced by the call and thus “inadmissable” as a dismissal.”It’s an illegal delivery from the moment the umpire calls it, and the batsman plays it under that assumption,” an ICC official said. “[We have] debated this scenario at cricket committee a number of times and each time it concluded that it is not reasonable to retrospectively tell the batsman he was facing a legal delivery, when it was an illegal delivery at the time he played it.”This state of affairs has been complicated for some years by the advent of the front foot no-ball law, which reduced considerably the amount of time between the umpire’s no-ball call and the batsman having to play the delivery. Judging the batsman’s intent is thus very difficult, but the inability of the umpires to reverse a no-ball call is clear in the minds of the game’s custodians.The ICC cricket committee is composed of a wide group of players and officials, including the chairman Anil Kumble, ICC chairman Shashank Manohar, chief executive David Richardson, Andrew Strauss, Mark Taylor, Kumar Sangakkara, L Sivaramakrishnan, Darren Lehmann, David White, Steve Davis, Ranjan Madugalle, Kevin O’Brien, Ravi Shastri, Clare Connor and the MCC’s John Stephenson.

Peshawar bowlers trample Lahore Qalandars

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Peshawar Zalmi’s bowling attack had another fine night as they smothered Lahore Qalandars to 117 for 6 to set up a nine-wicket victory

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Feb-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Junaid Khan dismissed Chris Gayle off the first ball of the match•AFP

Peshawar Zalmi’s bowling attack had another fine night as they smothered Lahore Qalandars to 117 for 6 to set up a nine-wicket victory.With Chris Gayle, Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali and Dwayne Bravo, Lahore have arguably the best batting line-up in the Pakistan Super League. But Peshawar had the upper hand right from the first ball – Junaid Khan went full and straight and Gayle’s stumps went for a toss. Two deliveries later, Cameron Delport was run out for a duck courtesy a direct hit from Shahid Yousuf at mid-on. Azhar (31), Akmal (21) and Bravo (32) helped Lahore last the full quota of overs. Left-arm spinner Mohammad Asghar picked up 2 for 11 and an economy rate of 2.75. Shahid Afridi, the captain, finished with 0 for 18 from his four overs.A required rate less than run-a-ball in the chase was never going to be a problem and it proved so as Peshawar openers Tamim Iqbal (55*) and Mohammad Hafeez (43) knocked off 80% of the target. They added 95 in 68 balls and the remaining 23 runs were secured with ease.

Badree, Fletcher steamroll Sri Lanka

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Samuel Badree struck 3 for 12 to restrict Sri Lanka to 122 for 9 and an Andre Fletcher half-century thereafter sealed a seven-wicket victory for West Indies

The Report by Alagappan Muthu20-Mar-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:46

Jayawardene: Controlled West Indies deserved win

Samuel Badree sticks out in this West Indies team. He has a neat little side parting. He does not have rippling muscles. He celebrates a wicket almost out of courtesy. And all of his wickets tonight in Bangalore came as a result of his inviting the batsmen to make a mistake. Sri Lanka rsvp-ed like crazy. Badree’s 3 for 12 laid the foundation to a comfortable victory over the defending champions.Much of Badree’s success comes from his accuracy. So it was almost surprising to see him bowl one wide at the new batsman Lahiru Thirimanne, until Thirimanne sliced it straight to point. Chamara Kapugedera raced down the pitch too early and Badree had him stumped. Three balls later, Milinda Siriwardana nicked a googly to slip. Those were the wickets to his name. In the fifth over, Badree strung three dot balls on the trot to lead Dinesh Chandimal into running himself out.Badree finished his spell in the 10th over and Sri Lanka were 49 for 5 with very little hope of recovery. They only barely avoided getting bowled out, and their 122 for 9 was expertly run down by a man playing his first T20I in three months – Andre Fletcher. He stepped in for an injured Chris Gayle to open the innings, struck an unbeaten 84 off 64 balls and was out in the middle when the winning run was scored.West Indies may be tussling with their board, their Test team’s reputation may be in the doldrums but the shortest format always brings the best out of them. Fletcher, for example, had a T20I average of 19 before today. But he had improved his reputation via the Caribbean Premier League. He was the second-highest run-scorer in the 2015 edition, behind only his mentor Gayle.”Confidence on the field looks high,” tweeted former West Indian captain Brian Lara as the current captain Darren Sammy broke into jigs while his men celebrated each wicket with gusto. The high-fives could have poked someone’s eye out.But Angelo Mathews’ inexperienced team were at the opposite end of the spectrum. They were worried about far too many things, the reputation of a big-hitting West Indian line-up, for example.Chandimal hit straight to cover and ran because he was off put by the 11 dots he consumed. Thirimanne was facing his first ball of spin and he committed to a loft without realising Badree had tossed it too far wide to be timed properly. Kapugedera was promoted to pinch hit and came back with 6 off 10 balls.All that chaos was exploited by Badree, who read a set of nervous batsmen perfectly. Siriwardana was another Sri Lanka batsman itching to hit the ball, but Badree kept feeding him wrong ‘uns that kept turning past the bat and after two hard-handed pokes that missed the ball, the third fell into the lap of the Gayle at first slip. Badree later dedicated his performance to his two daughters, who “I haven’t seen for the better part of two months.”Thisara Perera would have hoped his 40 off 29 balls rescued Sri Lanka, but his fluency only went on to demonstrate how the rest of the line-up simply did not stand up when they needed to.Most would have expected turning pitches in the subcontinent, but perhaps the format – Twenty20s – and the showpiece event of said format – may have tempted people into hoping for batting-friendly surfaces. The M Chinnaswamy crowd has seen many a batathon through eight seasons of the IPL, but on Sunday, they had to contend themselves to a low-scoring match on a pitch that gave the spinners a lot of assistance. Not quite to the levels of Nagpur, though. It was just enough to keep the contest even and exciting.Jeffrey Vandersay, who arrived in the country only on the eve of the match, bowled a fine spell to finish with 1 for 11 off his four overs. For a 26-year old, he coped under the glare of the World T20 excellently and for a young wristspinner, his control was excellent. Rangana Herath was tidy and Siriwardana took his two wickets by deceiving Marlon Samuels and Denesh Ramdin in flight.But as well as the spinners bowled, Sri Lanka had too little on the board and they hurt themselves with a couple of dropped chances. Opener Johnson Charles was given a life when Kapugedera failed to hold on to a dolly at deep midwicket and Andre Russell was shelled by Nuwan Kulasekara in the 18th over.There were other things that went against Sri Lanka too. Their in-form batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan was adjudged lbw by umpire Johan Cloete when the ball seemed to be heading down leg. Siriwardana then fell on the wrong side of an lbw shout with umpire Aleem Dar. And the third umpire Simon Fry might well have let Fletcher off when he was on 71 after a catch behind the stumps was reviewed. The ball was dying on Chandimal even as he dived forward to try and get his gloves underneath. Multiple camera angles, lots of zooming in and several slow-motion replays only seemed to confuse the issue. The on-field call was out, but Fry overruled it.Gayle, who strained his left hamstring while fielding, had been ready to come out to bat at that time, but he was kept to loitering around in his full gear as West Indies cantered to victory without him to further establish their standing as a T20 powerhouse.

World T20 omission frustrated Finn

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Steven Finn has admitted he was frustrated by England’s decision not to take him to India as part of the World T20 squad, insisting he would have been fully fit for the tournament

George Dobell14-Apr-2016Steven Finn has admitted he was frustrated by England’s decision not to take him to India as part of the World T20 squad, insisting he would have been fully fit for the tournament.Finn, who was replaced in the squad by Liam Plunkett after suffering a calf injury, assured the England management that he would be fit and subsequently played a full part on Middlesex’s pre-season tour.While he celebrated England’s relative success in the tournament, joking that they would have been “knocked out in the group stages if I’d been there”, he felt the latest in a succession of injuries robbed him of “a big winter”.”It’s frustrating,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “I would have been fit. I told them I would be fit.”There wasn’t actually much wrong with me. I was back up and running within a week of the calf injury but the decision was made quite quickly to pull me out of the squad. There were still 10 days before the squad left to go for India and I was pretty much bowling 100% by the time the guys started the World Cup.”They played fantastically and got better as the tournament went on. I was frustrated not to be out there with them, but you get over that and accept the decision is made.”

Helm ‘something special’

Tom Helm has been rated the “the most talented young bowler I’ve ever seen” by his team-mate Steven Finn.
Helm, a 21-year-old fast bowler, missed most of the 2015 season with a stress fracture but is tipped to play around half of Middlesex’s Championship matches this season if fitness allows. Finn believes he has the pace and skill to enjoy great success.
“In my opinion, he is the most talented young bowler I’ve ever seen,” Finn said. “He’s got something that different and special. You watch him bowl and you think: this is beautiful.
“It’s quick, it’s easy and he swings it both ways at will. He’s got something special. If he stays fit he’ll be a very big player for Middlesex and probably higher than that.”

The calf injury was the latest in a series of setbacks that have interrupted Finn’s progress since his return to the Test team during the 2015 summer. A foot injury kept him out of the Test series in the UAE, while a side strain ended his tour to South Africa. In between times, he cut his head on a street sign while looking at his phone while walking.”Injuries at this stage of my career, when it looked like I could have had a big winter, are frustrating,” he said. “But I’ve taken solace in the fact that when I’ve come back I’ve bowled well straight away. In the past it has taken a while.”Middlesex’s Championship season starts at Lord’s on Sunday with a game against Warwickshire. Finn knows that his performances in the opening games will determine whether he wins selection for the Test series against Sri Lanka and hopes that the newly developed ability to swing the ball – evident during the 2015 Ashes series – will give him an edge.”I feel I’ve something to offer in all three formats,” Finn said. “But Test cricket is what I desperately, desperately want to play.”That third seamer spot has been up for grabs at the start of the summer for the last four or five years. There’s a lot of people out there wanting to stake a claim for it and I’m in that category as well. Whoever takes the most wickets or is the most impressive in those games will probably get the nod for the third seamer.”You have to move the ball to be successful and I’ve been working on a genuine inswinger. I have chatted to Jimmy Anderson about it, but he is a genuine genius. I can only do it to left-handers at the moment, so it’s a work in progress.”Finn also expressed sympathy for Ben Stokes, who was hit for four successive sixes in the final of the World T20 as West Indies won the trophy. Finn conceded 49 in two overs – including six sixes – in a drubbing at the hands of New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum in the 2015 World Cup and knows better than most how such an experience feels. Finn suggested that, while he became flustered during the McCullum assault, Stokes retained his composure admirably.”When I got hit by Brendon I went to things that I wasn’t sure whether they were going to work,” Finn said. “You have to take yourself out of the situation and remember what worked well for you and Stokesy did that very well. He tried to deliver the skills he had all tournament.”Stoksey’s yorker had worked for him all tournament and, if you look at the pitch map of that over, apart from the first ball, they were very close to being good yorkers that wouldn’t normally be hit for six.”Ben can take solace in the fact that he did deliver his skill. He just got met on that day by someone who was having a freakish innings.”It will have hurt a lot at the time, but he’ll be fine. He’ll still be the heart and soul of the team. He’ll still be the life of the team. And if there is a last over to bowl again, I’m sure he’ll put his hand up to do it because he’s that sort of character.”

Rickety Daredevils in quest to arrest freefall

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Sunrisers Hyderabad will aim to secure a top-two finish in the league phase when they meet hosts Delhi Daredevils in Raipur on Friday

The Preview by Deivarayan Muthu19-May-2016

Match facts

Friday, May 20, 2016
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)

Big Picture

It’s that time of the season when teams scramble for the playoffs. Sunrisers Hyderabad are well placed to qualify, and a win against Delhi Daredevils on Friday or Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday would guarantee them a top-two finish. Wins in both the games would help them top the charts. They are one of only three teams in the scramble to have a positive net rate (+0.4), which means that they could qualify with two losses as well. The only concern for them is the void left by Ashish Nehra, who has been ruled out of the rest of the IPL with a hamstring injury.With four losses in their last five matches, Daredevils are floating on thin ice. They have to win both their games to have a shot at the playoffs for the first time since 2012. That the wounded Daredevils have to play two peaking sides – Sunrisers and Royal Challengers Bangalore – means they have to lift their game by several notches. They will also have to adjust to their second ‘home’ in Raipur, where the mercury levels are hovering over the 40 degree mark.Daredevils have been undone by constant chopping and changing after a sprightly start. Sample this: only Amit Mishra, Karun Nair and Sanju Samson have featured in all their matches so far this season. In comparison, seven Sunrisers players – David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman and Naman Ojha – have featured in each of their games.The Powerplay, where Daredevils score at 6.95, the lowest among all teams, has been another area of concern. Zaheer Khan, the captain, attributed a part of that to decisions not going in his side’s favour, after the 19-run loss via D/L method to Rising Pune Supergiants. Quinton de Kock, the highest run-getter for Daredevils this season and the side’s ninth highest overall, had been incorrectly given out caught behind twice in three matches. That Daredevils have had five opening combinations – the joint most along with Mumbai Indians – has not helped their cause either.

Form guide

Delhi Daredevils LLWLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Sunrisers Hyderabad WLWWW

In the spotlight

Zaheer’s variety – slower offcutter, quick offcutter and the knuckle ball – and funky fields had been crucial to Daredevils’ early success. Even when Krunal Pandya swatted away the rest of the attack last weekend, Zaheer held his own, giving away only 23 runs in four overs. The reward for his persistence was the wicket of Martin Guptill. Can he deliver again under pressure?Henriques has been a constant for Sunrisers this season. He may not muscle the ball like David Warner or unfurl a bag of cutters like Mustafizur Rahman, but his small contributions have played a part in Sunrisers’ upswing. The last time these two sides met in Raipur, Henriques fashioned Sunrisers’ win with an unbeaten 74. So a return to the eastern city is sure to elicit happy memories?

Team news

Nehra’s injury will force Sunrisers to make a change by default. Barinder Sran is likely to return to the line-up in a like-for-like swap although Sunrisers have other options in right-arm seamer Abhimanyu Mithun and left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma. They may also consider recalling Kane Williamson in place of Ben Cutting, despite the Australia allrounder’s unbeaten 18 off 11 balls that sealed the game on Sunday.Sunrisers Hyderabad (probable): 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Deepak Hooda, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Ben Cutting/Kane Williamson, 6 Naman Ojha(wk), 7 Moises Henriques, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar 9 Karn Sharma 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Barinder SranGiven Daredevils’ tactics, everyone in the squad has the chance to make the XI.Delhi Daredevils (probable): 1 Quinton de Kock(wk), 2 Shreyas Iyer/Mayank Agarwal, 3 Karun Nair, 4 Sanju Samson, 5 Rishabh Pant, 6 JP Duminy/Carlos Brathwaite/Sam Billings, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Amit Mishra, 9 Zaheer Khan(capt), 10 Nathan Coulter-Nile/Imran Tahir, 11 Mohammed Shami/Jayant Yadav/Pawan Negi/Shahbaz Nadeem

Pitch and conditions

The surface in Raipur offered early assistance to the seamers last season. Friday is expected to be a warm day with showers forecast later in the evening. Both teams will have to factor in the big boundaries.

Stats and trivia

  • Yuzvendra Chahal (16 wickets) and Amit Mishra (13 wickets) are the only spinners in the top-ten list of wicket-takers this season.
  • Warner has scored over 500 runs in three consecutive seasons – 528 in 2014, 562 in 2015, and 567 so far in 2016. He is only the second player to achieve the feat after Chris Gayle, who made 608 in 2011, 733 in 2012 and 708 in 2013.

Quote

“Once we bat well we are a different team. I think we delivered our best batting performance against Royal Challengers in Bangalore. We have to bat like the way we did there while chasing 191. We also have very good memories of also playing in Raipur.”