IPL 2017: Gujarat Lions in danger of elimination against wildcards Delhi Daredevils

NEW DELHI: Delhi Daredevils are not out of the reckoning for the IPL 2017 play-offs, but Gujarat Lions are in a perilous spot as the league stage of the tournament builds up to a possibly dizzying finale. A stirring chase of 186 against defending champions at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Tuesday has moved Daredevils to sixth on the IPL leaderboard, and they now have six points with five matches to play.
Their opponents at the Kotla on Thursday are also on six points but have one match less to go.Dispiriting defeats have left Gujarat in the lower rung of the points table, and with four matches to play, defeat on Thursday could eliminate them. Should Gujarat win all four matches, they will end with 14 points and will need other results to go their way.
How are Daredevils still alive? Because their young Indian batsman, finally, each contributed to victory over the team with the third best bowling attack in the league, SRH. Sanju Samson made 24 off 19 balls, the out-of-form Karun Nair - leading Delhi in Zaheer Khan's absence - smacked 39 off 20, Rishabh Pant breezed 34 off 20 from No 3 and Shreyas Iyer scored 33 off 25 deliveries. When Iyer was last out at 148/4 with four overs to go, the chase was nicely set up and Corey Anderson and Chris Morris, the team's two big-hitting overseas allrounders, finished the job with five deliveries to go.
And yet the Man of the Match was Mohammed Shami, who after the win said that such a performance will lift his confidence. Daredevils, who need to win all their remaining matches to get to 16 points, will hope for repeated success from Shami as they stare at a herculean task. They have yet to beat Gujarat, who last season won both matches - by seven and three wickets respectively.
Venue: Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Date: May 4, 2017
Time: 20:00 IST
Weather: A clear evening with a low of 25 degrees Celsius.
Team News:
DD
Angelo Mathews didn't bowl or bat in the win over SRH, and unless they bring back a rested Pat Cummins, Delhi's managements may not want to tinker with their XI given their sudden revival of fortunes. With Zaheer unlikely to return this season, Nair will continue to lead.
Probable XI: 1 Sanju Samson, 2 Karun Nair, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Corey Anderson, 6 Chris Morris, 7 Angelo Mathews/Pat Cummins, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Shahbaz Nadeem
GL
Dwayne Smith's latest failure - a golden duck, bowled by Imran Tahir - has perhaps exhausted his lifelines. With Jason Roy confirmed to be heading back to England after playing only a peripheral role for his IPL franchise, the only remaining overseas option Gujarat have is the UAE allrounder Chirag Suri, yet to get a game. With figures of none for 30 from 2.5 overs against RPS, James Faulkner is in dire need of a strong performance.
Probable XI: 1 Ishan Kishan, 2 Brendon McCullum, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 5 Aaron Finch, 6 Dwayne Smith/Chirag Suri, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 James Faulkner, 9 Pradeep Sangwan, 10 Basil Thampi, 11 Ankit Soni
Stats
- It was against Gujarat last season that Rishabh Pant made headlines, when he hit 69 off 40 balls to fuel an eight-wicket win in Rajkot.
- Delhi's fast bowlers have taken one wicket less than Gujarat's - 34 compared to 35 - but have needed fewer men to do so. Delhi have used six men of varying paces, while Gujarat have employed nine.
- Delhi's Amit Mishra has eight wickets this IPL, the same as four Gujarat spinners have managed.
Head to Head record: GL 2-DD 0
Quotes
"We told ourselves, we are a young team, and we should play like a young team. Go out there, play without fear." - Karun Nair
"We have four games left. Hopefully things will turn out better for us." - Suresh Raina