02 April,2022 08:25 AM IST | Pune | Shreeram Gokhale
Delhi Capitals spinner Kuldeep Yadav during his 3-18 against Mumbai Indians at the Brabourne Stadium recently. Pic/PTI
It's a battle of two teams that have had a similar start to their IPL 2022 campaign as Delhi Capitals take on Gujarat Titans at the MCA Stadium here on Saturday evening.
Both teams are coming into this game on the back of successful chases, with Capitals beating Mumbai Indians by four wickets and Titans winning the battle of two new IPL franchises against Lucknow Super Giants by five wickets. And like Delhi's assistant coach Ajit Agarkar pointed out at the press conference, both teams got to their respective target after being in trouble at the mid-way stage. But keeping their first game apart, Delhi clearly looks a better side, at least on paper. With the likes of David Warner, Lungi Ngidi and Mustafizur Rahman not available for their season opener, Delhi played only two internationals against Mumbai Indians.
With both Ngidi and Rahman being available for Saturday's game, having completed their three-day quarantine, Delhi can surely strengthen their bowling further. The form of left-arm unorthodox spinner Kuldeep Yadav must have been very satisfying for the Delhi team management, as Yadav is someone who depends a lot on self-confidence. His spell of 3-18, including the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard, played a major part in restricting the opposition below 180. Capitals will be hoping for another similar show from Yadav on a Pune track that has a bit on offer for spinners, if they bowl at the right pace.
The other satisfying aspect for Delhi was the way the likes of Lalit Yadav and Axar Patel handled the pressure towards the end of the chase against Mumbai. The duo's 75-run unbeaten stand off just 30 deliveries sealed the game in Delhi's favour with 10 balls to spare, something that looked near impossible at one stage.
"It was great to see the way Lalit and Axar absorbed the pressure against Mumbai Indians. Their performance has given us a huge boost," Agarkar said at the pre-game presser.
Gujarat Titans showed great composure, with Rahul Tewatiya, David Miller and Abhinav Manohard doing for them, what Lalit Yadav and Axar Patel did for Delhi. The Titans are one of the stronger bowling units in the league, with Mohammad Shami leading from the front against Lucknow. His dream new-ball spell helped Titans restrict Lucknow Super Giants to 158. In the only game played at the MCA stadium here so far, the new ball swung for the likes of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Trent Boult. And Shami could surely be a handful to handle in those conditions.
Then, they have the pace of Lockie Ferguson and Varun Aron, followed by the guile of Rashid Khan. Hardik Pandya bowling his full quota against Lucknow augurs well too, not only for Gujarat, but also for Indian cricket overall. And it will be interesting to see if the Gujarat skipper opts to do so for the second game in a row.
