Playoff window closing fast on Lions
Last year's table toppers cannot afford too many mistakes, having played 10 matches for only six points
The Preview by Alagappan Muthu
03-May-2017
Match facts
Delhi Daredevils v Gujarat Lions
Delhi, May 4, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
Delhi, May 4, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
Head-to-head
Overall: Delhi Daredevils and Gujarat Lions will play each other for the first time this season, and their head-to-head record stands at 1-1.
In the news
There are no further updates on Daredevils captain Zaheer Khan's recovery from a hamstring injury. He is expected to be assessed once more on the day of the game. Daredevils have already lost Sam Billings, who has left to resume England duty. It is understood that their South African players - Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada - will be available until May 7.
With Jason Roy having left on international duty as well, Lions' roster only has five fit overseas players - Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Aaron Finch, James Faulkner and Chirag Suri.
Qualification scenario
Both teams are languishing in the bottom half with six points, but the situation is slightly more dire for Lions, who need to win all their games to get to 14 points and have any chance of qualification. One loss will eliminate them, as four teams already have more than 12 points. Even with 14, Lions will need other results to go their way to qualify, but they will at least have a shot at finishing in the top four. Three of their remaining four games are against the relatively weaker teams, though: Daredevils, home and away, and Kings XI, away. Apart from that they also have a home game, in Kanpur, against Sunrisers.
Daredevils are almost in the same situation as Lions, but they have an extra game in hand. They also have four home games to play, against Lions, Mumbai Indians, Pune, and Royal Challengers, plus an away match against Lions. If they win at least four of the five, they might still have a chance.
The likely XIs
Delhi Daredevils 1 Sanju Samson, 2 Karun Nair (capt), 3 Shreyas Iyer, 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Jayant Yadav, 9 Kagiso Rabada/Pat Cummins, 10 Amit Mishra/Shahbaz Nadeem, 11 Mohammed Shami
Gujarat Lions 1 Brendon McCullum, 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Aaron Finch, 5 Dwayne Smith, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 James Faulkner, 9 Pradeep Sangwan, 10 Basil Thampi, 11 Ankit Soni
Strategy punt
Stats that matter
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo