Delhi Capitals are set to face Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 33rd match of the Indian Premier League. As expected, Steve Smith failed to feature in the playing XI for Delhi Capitals’ first match of the second leg of IPL 2021.
Steve Smith is a pure bat and Delhi Capitals already have a strong batting line-up. With the return of Shreyas Iyer, the core is more stronger making less opportunity for Smith as a batsman. On the other hand, there is the rule related to the quota of foreign players. A team can play only four overseas players. Shimron Hetmyer and Marcus Stoinis are already part of the side as finishers. It is difficult for a team to exclude Kagiso Rabada. The bowler is the mainstay of the Capitals. The combination of Rabada and Anrich Nortje has the history of doing well in the UAE. So, clearly the franchise decided to go without Smith this time.
Risbhab Pant who is leading DC in this season, said, “We were thinking of bowling first. We were gonna chase anyway. We are looking to focus on process and take one match at a time. Overseas players are Nortje, Rabada, Stoinis and Hetmyer. Ash is playing as well.”
Sunrisers Hyderabad who chose to bat first after winning the toss are already dealing with the Covid scare now. One of their main bowlers, T Natarajan has been tested positive earlier in the day and along with six other members have been kept in isolation.
However, others have been tested negative and hence the match is on. Kane Williamson, the captain said, “We will bat. Looks a good surface, important for us to assess conditions first up and get some runs on the board. It’s a chance to regroup and want to put up a much better performance. Holder, Rashid, Warner and myself are the four foreign players.”
Teams:
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): David Warner, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Kane Williamson(c), Manish Pandey, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad, Kedar Jadhav, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed
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