Despite the unavailability of key players at various points and a Covid-19 outbreak in their camp, Delhi Capitals have found a way to stay in the hunt for the playoffs. Their net run-rate of +0.641 is the best among all ten teams, which suggests their five losses have been close affairs. Their opponents Chennai Super Kings have also had to deal with the absence of key players, chiefly Deepak Chahar, but they haven’t been able to cope as well. Super Kings are still in the mix for the playoffs, but only just.
Capitals’ middle order, though, looks in much healthier shape, especially with Rovman Powell clicking into top gear after a slow start to the season. However, if Super Kings manage to make early inroads, they can test the batting depth of Capitals who have Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel/Ripal Patel and Shardul Thakur carded at Nos. 6,7 and 8.
Prithvi Shaw had missed Capitals’ last fixture, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, with illness, but assistant coach Shane Watson expected him to be fit for this match. It remains to be seen whether Axar Patel and Bravo have recovered from their respective injuries.
Chennai Super Kings: 1 Devon Conway, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (capt&wk), 8 Dwayne Bravo/Dwaine Pretorius, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Simarjeet Singh, 11 Mukesh Choudhary
Delhi Capitals: 1 David Warner, 2 Prithvi Shaw/Mandeep Singh, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt&wk), 5 Rovman Powell, 6 Lalit Yadav, 7 Axar Patel/Ripal Patel, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Khaleel Ahmed