Lagatar24 Desk
The first doubleheader of IPL Phase- 2 will be played on Saturday. The first match of the day will be between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals. Delhi currently have 14 points from 9 matches. That is, with the victory in this match, Delhi can become the first team to secure a place in the play-offs. On the other hand, if the Rajasthan team gets victory then it will reach the top 4, as Rajasthan is currently having 8 points from 8 matches.
This match can also be seen as Pant vs Sanju. While Rishabh Pant has excelled as the captain of Delhi Capitals and has amassed 248 runs in nine games, including an unbeaten 34 off 21 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the side’s win. On the other hand Samson has been expectedly iffy with his form but it’s too hard to ignore him as he is also the team’s top scorer.
The chance of any changes in team combination is very less but Delhi may be forced to make changes due to an injury to Marcus Stoinis. In the last match, Stoinis went off the field with a limp. If Stoinis is not fit, then Steve Smith can be included in his place in the playing-11.
The 36th match of phase-2 will be held in Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The pitch in Abu Dhabi has been a great one for batting in the second leg of IPL 2021. However, the spinners have also extracted quite a bit of help from the surface. The teams, batting second, have found it easier in the earlier two games. Chasing should be the way forward.
