Sport | Cricket
Daredevils hoping to get back on track
Having suffered their first defeat in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the hands of Kings XI Punjab on Saturday, Delhi Daredevils will be looking to atone when they take on troubled Bangalore Royal Challengers at home today.
- IANS
- Published: 00:14 April 30, 2008
- Image Credit:
New Delhi: Having suffered their first defeat in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the hands of Kings XI Punjab on Saturday, Delhi Daredevils will be looking to atone when they take on troubled Bangalore Royal Challengers at home today.
Daredevils are currently placed fourth in the table after two wins from three matches, while Royal Challengers are seventh with just one victory from four.
Saturday's defeat proved a nailbiter for the Daredevils after the match was decided in the last over with just three balls to spare.
But the Daredevils, whose big stars failed to fire, will take some consolation from the fact that younger players, including Manoj Tewari and Dinesh Karthik, shouldered their share of the responsibility to help the team post a competitive score.
Big performance
New Delhi will be hoping they fire again at the Feroze Shah Kotla stadium today as they seek to move up the rankings.
The team led by Virender Sehwag will be looking for a big performance from the captain against the Royal Challengers. Sehwag took the Deccan Chargers bowlers apart in their second match and could prove too much for Zaheer Khan and company.
A good start at the top by Gautam Gambhir and Sehwag will make the task easier for the Daredevils, and a strong middle-order of Pakistani Shoaib Malek, Shikhar Dhawan, Tewari and Karthik will be a challenge for Bangalore.
The Royal Challengers find themselves in troubled waters after their loss to Chennai Super Kings on Sunday and it will take huge effort from Rahul Dravid and his team to come through it.
Dravid's bowlers have been erratic and so have his batsmen, while the captain himself has failed to fire in recent matches.
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