Delhi Capitals start as the overwhelming favourites in the Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad ( Courtesy by BCCI ) A change in name has worked wonders for Delhi Capitals. The Daredevils weren't really daredevils when it came to Indian Premier League performances in the past. However, the Capitals ended Delhi's 6-year long drought for a place in the playoffs by finishing in top 4 at the end of the league stage of IPL 2019. Delhi Capitals have never reached the final of IPL and if they are to buck the trend they have to work doubly harder than the other two teams who had finished with 18 points in the league stages. While Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians made the Qualifier 1 with 18 points, Delhi Capitals will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator on Wednesday due to their inferior net run rate. An 80-run defeat to CSK in their penultimate league game made the difference. Nonetheless, if you are a Delhi Capitals fan, you would take it, wouldn't you? Delhi Capitals though start as the overwhelming favourites in the Eliminator. Led by young Shreyas Iyer, Delhi have relied on batting firepower and Kagiso Rabada's fiery spells to emerge as one of the favourites. Shikhar Dhawan, who made his move from Sunrisers Hyderabad to Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2019, has been in fine form for them. Scoring 486 runs from 14 matches, the India opener has been consistent throughout the season at the top even as young Prithvi Shaw has failed to live up to expectations. With 259 runs in 6 #VIVOIPL games, @SDhawan25 has the highest run tally by any player at #Vizag! Dilliwalon, kal ke Eliminator mein kya hoga Gabbar ka score? #DCvSRH #ThisIsNewDelhi #DelhiCapitals pic.twitter.com/ag1waUtOU9 Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) May 7, 2019 Shreyas Iyer has been another major highlight of Delhi's batting performances. The skipper has scored 442 runs from 14 matches. Explosive wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, despite lacking last year's consistency, has pitched in with a few match-winning cameos. At the start of the season, Delhi Capitals were hurt by frequent batting collapses but the senior campaigners in the team have been able to take more responsibility while the likes of Colin Ingram and Axar Patel have made handy contributions as well. The presence of Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly at the dugout has also helped them immensely. While their batting looks solid, Kagiso Rabada's absence has come as a huge blow to their bowling department. The South African pacer still holds the Purple Cap with 25 wickets from 12 matches but was ruled out of the remainder of the season due to a back injury. Ishant Sharma showed glimpses of a return to peak form in their five-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals and the India pacer will lead the pace attack which also has the likes of Chris Morris, Keemo Paul and Sherfane Rutherford. Delhi Capitals also have the luxury to employ a spin-dominant attack but that will depend solely on the Vizag pitch. Amit Mishra and Axar Patel have been standout performers, the availability of Nepal's Sandeep Lamichhane gives them the extra flexibility. "I'll just go for a wicket" - @MishiAmit talked about preparations for the Eliminator when we caught up with him last evening Show your support for Mishi bhai, machao roar #ThisIsNewDelhi #DelhiCapitals #DCvSRH #IPL #IPL2019 pic.twitter.com/FHA17KXfL5 Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) May 8, 2019 On the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad, who became the first IPL team to qualify for the playoffs with just 12 points, need to step up if they are to live to fight another day. It's time for the playoffs and the boys have trained hard under the lights. Check these clicks from our training session at Vizag. #OrangeArmy #SunRisers #SRH #RiseWithUs pic.twitter.com/DUE2Y8u9yA SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) May 8, 2019 Sunrisers were outclassed by Royal Challengers Bangalore in their final league game and are heading into the knockout match in Visakhapatnam on the back of four defeats in their last five matches. The absence of David Warner, the Orange Cap holder, and Jonny Bairstow has hurt the team but Kane Williamson's return to form will give Sunrisers Hyderabad a big boost. All eyes will be on in-form Manish Pandey as he will be expected to do the bulk of scoring batting at No.3 yet again. The middle order has been a concern with all-rounder Vijay Shankar and Yusuf Pathan struggling to get going but Sunrisers bowling unit is seemingly peaking at the right time and it is capable of making it up for the misfiring batting group. While Khaleel Ahmed and Bhuvneshwar Kumar shone with the ball in Bengaluru on Saturday, Afghanistan super Rashid Khan loves delivering on the big stages. Sunrisers have been here and done this before and the experience that they possess may help them overcome recent struggles against a relatively young Delhi Capitals side, which is in uncharted territory.<doc-sep>Delhi Capitals (DC) almost lost the Eliminator of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam on Wednesday, but survived a drama-filled last over to set up a Qualifier 2 date with defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Heroes everywhere for Delhi. Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Keemo Paul, Amit Mishra (not for obstructing the field, but for bowling), skipper Shreyas Iyer (for trying to play it fair)... For Hyderabad, this is their third defeat in the Eliminators after 2013 and 2017. Brief Scores: SRH: 162/8 (Martin Guptill 36 off 19 balls, Keemo Paul 3/34). DC: 165/8 in 19.5 overs (Rishabh Pant 49 off 21 balls, Prithvi Shaw 56 off 38). Playing XIs: Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Colin Munro, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Axar Patel, Keemo Paul, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Trent Boult SunRisers Hyderabad: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Martin Guptill, Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson (c), Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Deepak Hooda, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, K Khaleel Ahmed, Basil Thampi (PREVIEW | SCHEDULE | 2019 ELECTION SPECIAL) Delhi Capitals Innings, Target 163 Runs 11:23 PM IST: Trent Boult is the new man.Then what? Keemo Paul breaks SunRisers Hyderabad hearts. A pull shot for a four to mid-wicket. Delhi win by two wickets with one ball to spare. 11:21 PM IST: Second review and it's out. 161/8 (19.4 Over). Two needed from two. Mishra is out for the field obstruction. 11:19 PM IST: Khaleel Ahmed with the last over. A slower delivery to Amit Mishra, and a wide, well outside. A single down the third man. Three required from five. A dot to Keemo Paul. Then a single to mid-wicket. Two needed from three. One leg bye and the possibility of an out for field obstruction. Amit Mishra changes the track while running to block the throw. Seems like the umpires going for caught behind, not the obstruction. And the drama continues. These umpires. 11:12 PM IST: And Rishabh Pant is not wasting time. Caution needed but he laces on to the length delivery, and a six over long off. A wide, for height. Five needed now. And he goes for a mighty swing, and pays the price. Holes out at mid-off, caught by Mohammad Nabi. And Ricky Ponting just left his seat at the dugout. Angry. FoW-158/7 (18.5 Over). Amit Mishra is the new man. Seven runs from the over. Pant made 49 off 21. Bhuvi's figures: 2/42. Delhi need five from six. 11:06 PM IST: Bhuvneshwar Kumar on with his last over. Wicket off the first ball. Rutherford caught at long-off by Mohammad Nabi. FoW-151/6 (18.1 Over). Keemo Paul is the new man. 11:04 PM IST: Basil Thampi on with his last over. Rishabh Pant hits the first ball for a four, down the ground. Pant follows it up with a six, thumped over over deep mid-wicket. Another four, to long leg boundary. Then, another six. This time over mid-wicket. 34 needed from 18 at the start of the over, now it's 14 from 14. A single, to mid-wicket. Another single, and 22 runs from the over. The over that changed the fortunes of Delhi? DC-151/5 after 18 overs. 12 needed from 12. Pant on 43 off 17. Thampi's figures: 0/41. 10:59 PM IST: New man Sherfane Rutherford hits Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a six, off the fifth ball, over long-off. Eight runs from the over. DC-129/5 after 17 overs. 10:50 PM IST: Mohammad Nabi also completes his spell. Ten runs from his last over. His figures: 0/29. Pant hits the fifth ball for a six over long leg boundary. DC-121/5 after 16 overs. 42 runs required from 24 balls. Time out. 10:47 PM IST: Rashid Khan is the game changer. Gets two wickets in the space of four balls to send Colin Munro, off the first ball and Axar Patel, off the fourth balls. Sherfane Rutherford is the new man. Double-wicket maiden over. Rashid's figures: 2/15. And there's still debate over Patel's wicket. DC-111/5 after 15 overs. That's Nelson again, striking. 10:42 PM IST: Big over for Delhi. 12 runs from Basil Thampi's third over. Colin Munro launches the fifth ball for a six over deep backward square boundary. Earlier in the over, he hit the second ball for a four off the second ball. DC-111/3 after 14 overs. 10:36 PM IST: Rashid Khan on with his third over. Just two runs from it. DC-93/3 after 13 overs. 10:31 PM IST: Colin Munro is the new man for Delhi. Mohammad Nabi returns for his third over. Ten runs from the over. Rishabh Pant hits the fourth ball for a six over long on. Huge one, some 91 metres. DC-97/3 after 12 overs. 10:28 PM IST: Khaleel Ahmed returns for his second over. A single off the first ball then he sends back Delhi captain Shreyas Iyer, caught behind. FoW-84/2 (10.2 Over). Iyer made eight off 10. Rishabh Pant is the new man. Ahmed then gets the wicket of Prithvi Shaw, caught at point by Vijay Shankar. Shaw made 56 off 38. Four runs from the over. Fow-87/3 (10.6 Over). Delhi need 76 runs required from 54 balls. 10:20 PM IST: Basil Thampi returns for his second over. Six runs from the over. DC-83/1 after 10 overs. They need 80 runs from 60 balls. 10:16 PM IST: Rashid Khan on with his second over. Seven runs from the over. Two singles, a wide and a four, hit by Shreyas Iyer behind point. DC-77/1 after nine overs. 10:31 PM IST: Shreyas Iyer is the new man. A single to fine leg, then Prithvi Shaw gets his fifty with a single off the last ball, in 31 balls. 13 runs from the over. DC-70/1 after eight overs. 10:09 PM IST: Deepak Hooda, off spinner, gets his first over. A single, then a six as Prithvi Shaw continues to punish SHR bowlers. A single then the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan. Wide and Wriddhiman Saha does the rest. Brilliant work. FoW-66/1 (7.3 Over). Dhawan made 17 off 16. Time out. 10:04 PM IST: Basil Thampi gets his first over.<doc-sep>IPL 2019 Eliminator, DC Vs SRH: In A Rare Occasion, 'Nelson' Strikes Twice In Delhi Capitals-SunRisers Hyderabad Match – WATCH For those who believe in mythical aspects of cricket, one such thing happened as the 'Nelson' struck during the Eliminator match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 between Delhi Capitals (DC) and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Visakhapatnam on Wednesday. In the 16th over of the SRH innings, Ishant Sharma produced a yorker to dismiss Kane Williamson at the score of 111. The score is considered a bad omen for the batsman or the batting team as it resembles a wicket without bails, and many more, pertaining to superstitions. Anyway. watch Ishant's beautiful yorker here: Eliminator: DC vs SRH – Kane Williamson Wicket https://t.co/dmFw3xbkAc via @ipl — gujjubhai (@gujjubhai17) May 8, 2019 Strangely, Nelson struck again during the DC innings, to dismiss Axar Patel. SRH needed a good knock from the skipper, but the Kiwi managed only 28 off 27 balls. It was Ishant's 12 wicket of IPL 2019, his second-best haul in a season. He produced figures of 2/34. Delhi need 163 runs to play in the Qualifier 2 against Chennai Super Kings. For in-depth, objective and more importantly balanced journalism, Click here to subscribe to Outlook Magazine<doc-sep>IPL 2019: Eliminator, Delhi Capitals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad – Statistical Preview All the key stats and numbers ahead of the Elimination Final between SRH and Delhi. The Sunrisers Hyderabad should be considering themselves lucky having made it to the playoffs with only 12 points; the lowest qualification points for a team in the history of IPL. They will now be up against the Delhi Capitals which will be first of the two hurdles to pass on the route to the final. The Delhi franchise was dominant for the most part of the tournament but the big defeat against Chennai Super Kings towards the end allowed the defending champions to gain an edge on NRR and finish at the second place. All the key stats and numbers ahead of the Elimination Final between SRH and Delhi: 0 – Number of playoff/knockout matches that the Delhi Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils) have won in the IPL. They lost the semi-finals in 2008 and 2009 editions and ended up losing in both qualifiers in the 2012 season. 3 – Sunrisers Hyderabad won each of their last three IPL matches in Vizag; all while defending a total. SRH played a total of five matches at this venue won three, lost two. 38 – Rashid Khan has bagged 38 wickets across 27 Twenty20s he played in 2019; the most for any bowler in 2019. Shreyas Gopal, Wahab Riaz and another current SRH player Khaleel Ahmed have claimed 33 wickets apiece and share the 2nd spot. 42.75 – Manish Pandey has a batting average of 42.75 in the IPL against the Delhi Capitals/Daredevils. In the 12 IPL innings against Delhi, Manish has scored 342 runs including two half-centuries. 47.88 – Bowling average of Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the IPL against the Delhi franchise. The SRH pacer picked up only 9 wickets across the 14 IPL matches against them. DC bowler Amit Mishra also averages over 40 with the ball against Sunrisers. In the nine IPL games against his former franchise, Mishra claimed only 5 wickets at an average of 41. 50.83 – Shikhar Dhawan’s batting average in the Twenty20 format at the VDCA Stadium in Vizag. The left-hander scored 305 runs across 8 innings with help of two fifties. 154.14 – Rishabh Pant’s strike rate against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL. Pant scored 279 runs across 8 innings against SRH at an average of 46.5 and also scored his only IPL ton. His skipper Shreyas Iyer also has a decent record against Sunrisers having scored 278 runs in the same number of innings at an average of 39.71 with help of two half-centuries. 926 – Shreyas Iyer has scored 926 runs in the Twenty20 format in 2019; the 2nd most by any player this year behind Shane Watson’s 953 runs. Iyer scored those across 24 innings at an average of 44.09 with four fifties and two hundreds.<doc-sep>
For the Delhi faithfuls the entry of their team into the playoffs of the Indian Premier League, after six long years, has brought about a bitter sweet feeling. Sweet because the rechristened and re-energised team has been a revelation this season. Bitter because of the franchise’s past record in the IPL knock-outs. Delhi are the only team (among the original franchises) to have never made it to the final of the tournament. With a plethora of national and international talent in their squad, the erstwhile Delhi Daredevils reached the semi-finals of the first two tournaments, only to bow out tamely. ALSO READ: Why Axar Patel is a big threat for Warner-less Sunrisers Hyderabad Riding high on the excellence of Morne Morkel and Virender Sehwag, Delhi reached the knock-outs again in 2012, this time as table toppers from the group stage. But they blew away both their chances of reaching the final. This was the last time the team would rub shoulders with the best in the league as a long lean spell followed with finishes near the bottom of the table. All that changed this season as the duo of head coach Ricky Ponting and mentor Sourav Ganguly instilled self belief in a bunch of talented youngsters, who were supported well by the foreign recruits. The return of a couple of seasoned Delhi boys also helped the cause. The purpose showed by the likes of Shikhar Dhawan (486 runs), Shreyas Iyer (442 runs) and Rishabh Pant (401 runs) with the bat has been matched by the excellence of Kagiso Rabada (25 wickets), Chris Morris (13 wickets) and Ishant Sharma (10 wickets) with ball. Delhi might feel hard done by as they finished the league stage tied on points with Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, but a lower net run-rate means they missed out on the opportunity of getting two shots at the final. But they have themselves to blame for this eventuality as the 80-run loss to CSK could have been avoided had they batted smartly and avoided a heavy deafeat. Training. Preparing. Perfecting. 💪 The DC boys have sweated it out in the nets and can't wait for the Eliminator vs SRH today 👊#DCvSRH #ThisIsNewDelhi #DelhiCapitals #IPL #IPL2019 pic.twitter.com/Y4A8yVXdyI — Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) May 8, 2019 Quite surely Ponting would have had some words of wisdom to give to his wards and that resulted in a facile win over the Rajasthan Royals in their final match of the tournament. ALSO READ: Delhi Capitals predicted 11 against Sunrisers Hyderabad - Big changes expected Delhi’s season revived after their victory over the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Hyderabad and they face the same opponents in the eliminator. The match will be played at Vizag, a venue where the Sunrisers have done well. But the ‘Orange Army’ will be without the services of the talismanic opening duo of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow. While their absence has weakened Tom Moody’s wards for sure but the second coming of Manish Pandey this season has ensured SRH do not suffer heavily. The clash gives a chance to Dhawan and Ishant to strike hard against their old franchise. Vijay Shankar in the other camp will also have a similar opportunity. What will be key though is how Delhi faces Rashid Khan and how does the experienced duo of Amit Mishra and Axar Patel bowl against the predominantly right-handed SRH batting.