Big picture: Battle between two excellent spin units
It’s a contest between a team very much in the hunt for a top-two finish – but not guaranteed a playoff spot yet – and the team that was the first to be knocked out of the playoffs race but cannot be taken for granted. For Chennai Super Kings, the equation is simple: beat Delhi Capitals in their last group game and cement their spot in the playoffs.
That Capitals haven’t done well at home this IPL – they have won just two of their six matches – will bode well for CSK. However, if one looks at Capitals’ recent form, three wins in their last five matches is much better, more so for a team that has won just five games all season.
Delhi Capitals WLLWW (last five completed games, most recent first)
Chennai Super Kings LWWNRL
Delhi Capitals (probable XII): 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Rilee Rossouw, 4 Phil Salt (wk), 5 Axar Patel, 6 Aman Khan, 7 Yash Dhull, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Anrich Nortje, 10 Mukesh Kumar, 11 Ishant Sharma, 12 Khaleel Ahmed
CSK have more or less stuck to the same XII in the second half of the tournament. Seamer Pathirana will swap in for Ambati Rayudu or Dube when they bowl.
Chennai Super Kings (probable XII): 1 Devon Conway, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Maheesh Theekshana, 11 Matheesha Pathirana, 12 Tushar Deshpande
“Prithvi Shaw is one of the most beautiful batters to watch. And his time off from the playing XI has seemed to give him a chance to focus on the direction he wants to move in. He certainly had an extra bit of fire in the belly in our last game.”
Capitals assistant coach Shane Watson on Shaw’s form