DC look to push upwards against a stuttering SRH

On the brink of elimination, Sunrisers Hyderabad return home on Monday (May 5) to face off against the stuttering Delhi Capitals in a bid to give their IPL 2025 campaign one more push.

The Capitals find themselves just outside the qualification bracket with 12 points in 10 games. They have struggled to keep up the momentum gained following a record-breaking start to their season as soon as they hit the home turf. After winning five out of their first six games, Delhi's campaign lost steam midway as they went on to lose three of their last four. With only four games in hand, and the remaining three post Monday against sides all currently placed above them in the points table, the road is only going to get tougher for Axar & Co. at the business end of the competition.

In all their recent defeats, the batting hasn't collectively fired for Delhi despite different individuals putting their hand up in each of those innings. Incidentally, all their remaining games are at high-scoring venues, putting the onus on the batting department to pull up their socks and put in complete performances to help DC secure a playoffs berth. While KL Rahul has shouldered the responsbility well, and is the team's leading run-getter, the return of Faf du Plessis with a half-century in the most-recent outing are good signs for Delhi.

However, Axar Patel the batter has been a revelation for the side. Promoted as captain after the mega auction, Axar has more often than not played the matchups right by promoting himself in the batting order when needed and chipped in with impact knocks. He's also led the team admirably with the ball despite not bagging a whole lot of wickets which he put down to pre-tournament injury. As such, him injuring his bowling hand again in the last outing would have Delhi sweating over his match-fitness. He did play a handy cameo in a losing cause in the chase thereafter, signalling it may not have been a serious concern, and a five-day break for Delhi since should have aided in recovery.

SRH's campaign quickly went off rails despite them retaining the experienced core of the Class of '24 that ended second-best to KKR. When this time last year they held a position firmly in the top-four, Hyderabad have struggled to even get off the bottom half this season with only one win in first-five games, and two in their last five outings. With six points against their name and four games in hand, SRH stay alive mathematically - needing other results to fall their way even if they were to go on a winning-spree from here on.

When: Monday, May 5 at 7:30 PM IST

Where: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad

What to expect: The venue has a tendency to favour the batters. Four of five games here previously in IPL 2025 have been won by chasing sides, and while SRH only has a 2-3 win-loss record at home they do have the distinction of being the only team to successfully defend a total here. Expect clear skies and no interference from rain otherwise.

Head-to-Head: SRH 13 - 12 DC. In six games in Hyderabad, the two teams have beaten each other thrice.

Teams Watch

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Injuries/ Unavailability: No reported news of injury for the hosts

Tactics & Match-ups:Abhishek Sharma has been one of SRH's better batters in a vastly inconsistent season for the 2024 finalists. He has a strong record against DC's best - Kuldeep Yadav [13 balls | 38 runs | 2 dismissals].

Probable XII: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aniket Verma, Kamindu Mendis, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (C), Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari, Mohammed Shami

Delhi Capitals

Injuries/Unavailability: Axar injured his left hand on the field in DC's last game, against KKR at Delhi, but did return to bat in the chase. Besides that, there are no availability concerns in Delhi's camp.

Tactics & Match-ups:Mitchell Starc has dismissed Travis Head twice in seven balls in the IPL, and will be vital to rattle SRH early in Hyderabad.

Probable XII: Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel (wk), Karun Nair, KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel (C), Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Dushmantha Chameera, Mukesh Kumar, Ashutosh Sharma

Did you know?

- Travis Head had a strike rate of 191.55 in the first three games of the season. That has dropped significantly to 133 in the next seven games

- Mitchell Starc has picked 10 wickets in 4 outings against SRH in IPL since 2024

What they said

"We have had a bit of a break just to go back, have a reset, have a think about it. We have had a few days off. So we have had time as a team to reset and go back to the things that we were doing well. And it's about peaking at the right time, no? And this is the perfect time to start and the last four games to go." - Karun Nair

"I think they're incredibly important for not only the franchise but for individuals as well. I think whatever's going on, there's always a desire to finish the season well and we understand that finishing the season well can give a lot of optimism to the franchise going forward." - SRH head coach Daniel Vettori