Lee set for final flourish

Watching Brett Lee and the man he replaced as Australia's spearhead, Glenn McGrath, in the same match along with India's two biggest hitters is enough to get the adrenalin running

Jamie Alter26-Apr-2008

No messing around: Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag will captain the two competitive North Indian sides © AFP

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Match facts

Sunday, April 27, 2008
Start time 16:00 local, 10:30 GMT

The Big Picture

"Live Punjabi, Play Punjabi" is the motto of Kings XI Punjab and their mission is to be the most successful and entertaining franchise in the IPL. Having just won their first game on Friday they're entitled to some chest-thumping, but up against another feisty North Indian side, arguably the strongest in the tournament, they'll need to be at their best. The Delhi Daredevils have won two out of two and, with an excellent blend of youth and experience, look the team to beat. This will be Brett Lee's last appearance for Punjab - Simon Katich and Kyle Mills also leave India on April 28 - and his side could really use a repeat of his heroics against Mumbai Indians. Watching Lee and the man he replaced as Australia's spearhead, Glenn McGrath, in the same match along with India's two biggest hitters is enough to get the adrenalin running. A special Sunday beckons.

Watch out for ...

... Lee versus Delhi's in-form openers, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag. Delhi have only lost two wickets in two games, but Lee is a different proposition given his form. Also keep an eye out for anything Kumar Sangakkara does. The tournament's third-highest run-scorer, his 94 off 56 balls against Mumbai was a stellar effort and was highlighted by his ability to throw bowlers off target. He has the bowling attack of the tournament to deal with now.

Team news

James Hopes missed the last game with a stomach upset and if fit, he will take his place back at the top of the order, which means Ramnaresh Sarwan will go back to the bench. Sunny Sohal went for a fourth-ball duck and he could easily be replaced by either Sahil Kukreja or Tanmay Srivastava, the Under-19 batsman. Punjab are extremely unlikely to tinker with the bowling attack that wrapped up a 66-run win in Mohali. Having Hopes back in the attack will be a big boost.

Punjab (probable) 1 Karan Goel, 2 James Hopes, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Yuvraj Singh (capt), 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Tanmay Srivastava/ Sahil Kukreja, 7 Irfan Pathan 8 Brett Lee, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Sreesanth, 11 VRV Singh.

It's hard to envision Delhi changing their winning combination, even with AB de Villiers joining the team on game day. Their bowling, with Glenn McGrath, Mohammad Asif and Farveez Maharoof, is nagging and the middle order is yet to even get a bat. If Shoaib Malik gets time at the crease, expect fireworks.

Delhi: (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Manoj Tiwary, 7 Rajat Bhatia, 8 Farveez Maharoof, 9 Mohammad Asif, 10 Yo Mahesh, 11 Glenn McGrath.

Sehwag's unbeaten 94 from 41 balls in Delhi's last game came at a manic strike-rate of 229.26 and included six sixes. His tournament strike-rate of 235.55 is the best so far.

Delhi have won both their matches by nine wickets, the biggest margin when chasing and with overs to spare: against Hyderabad they had 42 balls to go and against Rajasthan, 29.

Dhawan, yet to be dismissed, has featured in two second-wicket stands worth 112.

Along with Matthew Hayden, Sangakkara has the most fifties in the tournament, two, and his 168 runs at 56.00 have boosted his Twenty20 career batting average to 36.69.

Quotes

"This is a great opportunity for the U-19 and U-22 players to play in front of 25,000 people. They get a chance to showcase their talent for live audience too. The ones who do well can rise to India ranks."
Sehwag, Delhi's captain, gives two thumbs up to the IPL.

Jamie Alter is a staff writer at Cricinfo