Deccan Chargers v Delhi Daredevils, IPL 2012, Hyderabad

Delhi look to reclaim pole position

Cricket +

Match facts

Thursday, May 10, 2012, Hyderabad
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)

	Can Kumar Sangakkara contribute some runs? © AFP  Enlarge

Big Picture

Deccan Chargers' season can be summed up from what happened in their first meeting against Delhi Daredevils earlier in the tournament. They made a competitive score, got Virender Sehwag and Mahela Jayawardene cheaply, and then dropped Kevin Pietersen thrice. Pietersen cracked nine sixes on his way to a spectacular 103 off 64 deliveries, and the scorecard recorded a five-wicket loss for Chargers. Nine defeats from 11 completed games is as dismal a run as it gets. Can Chargers salvage some pride from their four remaining games? It might be tough to do so tomorrow against a Daredevils side smarting from only their third loss, to Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday.

With Sehwag finally failing to fire after five consecutive fifties, Daredevils missed Pietersen against Knight Riders. Sehwag and Pietersen are the only Daredevils batsmen with more than 200 runs for the season. Mahela Jayawardene has made one fifty in nine innings; it has been a struggle to watch Ross Taylor bat with his strike-rate of 88.42.

After the loss to Knight Riders, Daredevils would not want to squander their chances of finishing in the top two, and tomorrow's game is an opportunity to regain their pole position on the points table.

Form guide

(most recent first, completed games)

Deccan Chargers: LLLWL
Delhi Daredevils: LWWWW

Players to watch

It took Shane Watson two games to deliver a match-winning performance after arriving in India from Australia's tour of West Indies. How long will it take David Warner to do so? He struggled initially against Brett Lee on Monday, but then played a couple of big strokes before falling to Jacques Kallis. Chargers' attack is not as testing as Knight Riders'.

Kumar Sangakkara has played only one innings of note - the 82 he made against Pune Warriors after dropping himself the previous game against Mumbai Indians. He has had two more failures since then. Struggling team, struggling captain. Can Sangakkara do something about both?,

Stats and trivia

• Chargers' only win in 17 matches at their home ground in Hyderabad came against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2011, after ten consecutive losses.
• Daredevils's 207 for 5 against Mumbai Indians is the highest total this season by a side batting first..
  Quotes
  "That's been the story so far for us in the tournament. We have been well placed around 10 to 15 overs, but haven't done well after that. We haven't finished our games well."
  Parthiv Patel on David Hussey's 11th over which claimed Daniel Harris and Cameron White to stun Chargers against Kings XI Punjab