Flawed teams look for consolation win
Kanpur's first match of the season is a dead rubber between two troubled teams: Gujarat Lions invariably win when they chase, and invariably lose when they bat first, while Delhi Daredevils can be exhilarating one day and exasperating the next
The Preview by Karthik Krishnaswamy
09-May-2017
Match facts
Gujarat Lions v Delhi Daredevils
Kanpur, May 10, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
Kanpur, May 10, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
Head-to-head
This season: Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson cleared the ropes 16 times between them as Daredevils mowed down a target of 209 with 15 balls to spare.
Overall: The teams have met three times so far, with Daredevils winning two games and losing the other, agonisingly, by one run.
In the news
Daredevils have lost three of their overseas players to international assignments. Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris have left to join South Africa's ODI team in England, while Angelo Mathews is joining Sri Lanka's preparatory camp for the Champions Trophy.
Sam Billings, who left the Daredevils camp to join England's ODI team in a two-match series against Ireland, will not return to the IPL despite the series having ended, since Daredevils are now out of contention for a playoff spot.
Daredevils, therefore, are left with only five overseas players to choose from - Corey Anderson, Carlos Brathwaite, Pat Cummins, Ben Hilfenhaus and Marlon Samuels.
Like Billings, Jason Roy will not return to the IPL after England's 2-0 ODI series win against Ireland. He will play for Surrey in the Royal London One-Day Cup instead of rejoining Lions, who also have no chance of making the playoffs.
The likely XIs
What is the biggest reason for Delhi Daredevils' poor run this season?
0 votesBad strategy
Inconsistent young batting line-up
Too many injured or unavailable players
Gujarat Lions: 1 Dwayne Smith, 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 5 Aaron Finch, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 James Faulkner, 8 Dhawal Kulkarni, 9 Pradeep Sangwan, 10 Basil Thampi, 11 Ankit Soni.
Delhi Daredevils: 1 Sanju Samson, 2 Karun Nair, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Carlos Brathwaite, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Mohammed Shami/Shahbaz Nadeem, 11 Zaheer Khan.
Stats that matter
- This will be Kanpur's first match of the season. The venue has only hosted three T20s previously - two IPL games and one India-England T20I - with the chasing team winning on all three occasions.
- This season, Lions have won four out of six matches while chasing, and have lost six out of six batting first.
- This has been a theme with Lions right through their two seasons in the IPL. In all, they have won 12 out of 16 matches while chasing, and only one out of 12 while batting first.
- Shahbaz Nadeem has an excellent record against two of Lions' overseas batsmen. Dwayne Smith has been out twice to him, while scoring only 59 off 49 balls, while Aaron Finch has made 29 off 28 while being dismissed once.
- Ravindra Jadeja has struggled against Amit Mishra in T20 cricket, only scoring 30 off 37 balls while being dismissed four times in six innings.
- Rishabh Pant, much like his team, has had a hit-and-miss IPL season, with three ducks, two other single-digit scores, and five 30-plus scores in 11 innings. He has the best strike rate (172.39) and the most sixes (20) by any player with three ducks in an IPL season.
Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo