Press Trust of India
New Delhi, April 14: Perennial under-achievers Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab will look to recover from opening losses and put their campaign back on track when they clash in an IPL match here Friday.
The Daredevils have a new unit with batting great Rahul Dravid as their mentor. They also have a new skipper in Zaheer Khan and the onus will be on him to inspire his team to put the disappointments behind.
Against Kolkata, Delhi cut a sorry figure when they were dismissed for 98 in 17.4 overs. Zaheer has to ensure that they come up with a better performance against Punjab.
A lot was expected from Carlos Brathwaite, but the strapping youngster could not make much impact against Kolkata and Delhi will expect him to repeat his World T20 exploits.
Similarly, all-rounder Pawan Negi, who was bought for Rs 8.5 Crores, becoming the most expensive Indian player in the IPL Auction of 2016, also needs to step up and deliver. Delhi’s batting unit looks weak. Comparatively, their bowling unit looks more solid with the presence of Nathan Counter-Nile, Chris Morris and Amit Mishra.
On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab did not add any significant player this season. They have a new captain in South Africa’s David Miller. Punjab had put up a decent score of 161-6 against Gujarat in their opening match with useful contributions from their opening batsmen Murali Vijay and Manan Vohra. They also boast of an explosive all-rounder in Glenn Maxwell, besides Miller in the middle-order.
Sandeep Sharma, Mitchell Johnson and Mohit Sharma constitute their pace battery, while Australia’s Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel and Pardeep Sahu make the spin department and they will have to come good for Punjab to have any chance.