The Hindu : Sport : Delhi Daredevils high on confidence

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Delhi Daredevils high on confidence

Struggling RCB will be aiming to turn things around

— Photo: AFP

DAUNTING OPPOSITION: Royal Challengers Bangalore will have its task cut out when it takes on the Delhi Daredevils boasting of such players like Daniel Vettori, David Warner and Virender Sehwag.

Port Elizabeth: High on confidence after two successive victories, Delhi Daredevils will strive to continue with the winning momentum while a struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore will try to recapture its winning touch from its first match when the two teams lock horns in an Indian Premier League match here on Sunday.

The Delhi team, by virtue of its back-to-back wins against Kings XI Punjab and last year’s runner-up Chennai Super Kings, is comfortably placed at second place in the points tally.

The Vijay Mallya-owned Bangalore team meanwhile tamed defending champion Rajasthan Royals in its campaign-opener comprehensively but since then has lacked consistency and now languishes at seventh spot after losing three encounters on the trot.

Formidable batting

The Delhi side will count upon its formidable batting line-up with skipper Virender Sehwag joining hands with his Team India opening partner Gautam Gambhir to start the innings, followed by South Africa batsman AB de Villiers.

De Villiers played a beacon with his 54-ball 105 to guide Daredevils to victory in the last match against Chennai and the team will expect another blistering knock from him on Sunday.

With Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan and New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori figuring in the middle order besides ’keeper Dinesh Karthick and Bengal boy Manoj Tiwary, Delhi’s batting will be a hard nut to crack.

In bowling, Delhi cricketer Pradeep Sangwan who scalped three for 28 in the last outing, will find support from the new-ball pair of Australian Dirk Nannes and Ashish Nehra.

Besides, the experienced Vettori will also add to the worry of the Kevin Pietersen-led Bangalore side, which was handed a seven-wicket defeat by the Punjab team on Friday.

Former England skipper Pietersen, who was handed charge of the team after being bought for a whopping $1.5 million, will be under immense pressure to prove that the first-match win was not a false dawn.

Its batting has been inconsistent so far. The opening pair of Kiwi all-rounder Jesse Ryder, who made a 32 in the last match, and Robin Uthappa has to do a decent job if the Bangalore team is to win the match.

Jacques Kallis and Ross Taylor may well come out with some crucial innings, however, it is the bowling department which hasn’t fired since it skittled out the Rajasthan team for a paltry 58 in the first tie. — PTI

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