IPL 2017 Match 15 preview: Confident Delhi Daredevils hope to dominate Kings XI Punjab in their first home game

Match 15: Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab at Delhi, Apr 15, 2017

Feroz Shah Kotla ( Capacity 50,000)
Saturday, 15th April
20:00 hrs IST

Kings XI Punjab is in the top half of the IPL 2017 leaderboard with four points but come here after their loss to KKR. Daredevils has suddenly looked rejuvenated following a massive 97-run win over Pune and are looking to continue this winning streak in IPL 10. The wicket at Kotla remains a talking point but high- scoring IPL games have been witnessed here. Both Daredevils and Punjab have some big-hitting batsmen, especially the visitors, who have David Miller and Glenn Maxwell. So, the fans can expect lot of big hits as entertainment.

Team News:
With promising batsman Shreyas Iyer back in the squad after recovering from chicken pox, Delhi’s batting will once again revolve around the young trio of Samson, Rishabh Pant and Sam Billings. Delhi will also expect their all-rounders Morris and Corey Anderson to fire with the bat, lower down the order. Morris’ fiery nine-ball 38 in the last match helped Delhi seize the momentum against Pune.
With Zaheer and Mishra sharing six wickets between them in the last match, the hosts will once again be spoilt for choice when it comes to their bowling department. Australian Pat Cummins also chipped in with two wickets making him too hard to be ignored.

Meanwhile, Punjab will expect a better batting effort, specially after Thursday’s horrific three-wicket over from pacer Umesh Yadav.
With the likes of power-hitters like Glenn Maxwell, David Miller in good form, Punjab can hope for another good start from Hashim Amla and Manan Vohra. Wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha can also use the long handle at will which makes them a good batting unit.
On the bowling front, medium pacer Sandeep Sharma and left-arm spinner Axar Patel have delivered more often than not in this IPL while veteran Ishant Sharma got to bowl just two overs against KKR and Varun Aaron managed to pick a wicket.

Ideal Playing XI
Kings XI Punjab: Hashim Amla, Manan Vohra,Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Glenn Maxwell (capt), David Miller, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, Varun Aaron, Ishant Sharma

Delhi Daredevils: Shreyas Iyer, Sam Billings, Karun Nair, Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant (wk), Chris Morris, Corey Anderson, Pat Cummins, Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem, Zaheer Khan (capt)

Match prediction: The in-form Daredevils go in as favorites with the home advantage as well as recent momentum in their favor.