With most of the teams having crossed the halfway mark in this season's Indian Premier League, Delhi Daredevils and Kochi Tuskers Kerala are clutching at straws. The teams' identically poor performance cards – just three wins from eight outings – have left them with no option but to improve their strike-rate before it's too late.
The two sides meet for the second time in three days on Monday looking to brighten the prospects of making the semifinals. At this stage, the teams still have some hopes. However, going by their inconsistency, both look more or less certain to finish among the also-rans in the 10-team league.
Though Delhi Daredevils won Kochi Tuskers' home game on Saturday, it does not necessarily start as favourite at the Ferozeshah Kotla. On a poor Kochi wicket, skipper Virender Sehwag's controlled aggression decided the issue in a game otherwise dominated by the bowlers.
The shorter boundaries at the Kotla ground, where the pitch offers far consistent bounce than what one witnessed at Kochi, should give Tuskers' big-hitters Brendon McCullum and Ravinder Jadeja more confidence.
Losing streak
Kochi, whose three straight losses undid the gains following its successive triumphs over three glamorous teams – Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders – will obviously be looking to end the streak by avenging its latest loss.
Skipper Mahela Jayawardene will expect its attack, including R. P. Singh, S. Sreesanth, Vinay Kumar, Jadeja and the seasoned Muttiah Muralitharan, if included, to come good against a shaky Daredevils' batting.
Big knocks due
In both camps, the batsmen are due for big knocks while the bowlers are showing signs of improvement. Delhi Daredevils, in particular, seems to be getting its bowling in order. Before stopping Kochi 38 runs short, Daredevils' bowlers did well to restrict Kolkata Knight Riders to a sub-150 score.
Morne Morkel, the most consistent Daredevils bowler on view, shook off the poor day at work against KKR to deliver three serious blows to Kochi.
Irfan Pathan seems to be getting back his rhythm. Though much cannot be expected from medium pacers such as Ajit Agarkar, Umesh Yadav and Ashok Dinda, the return of left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe – in place of an injured allrounder James Hopes – has provided some teeth to the bowling.
Facing this attack will be a line-up that is hungry to snap its losing streak. McCullum, Michael Klinger, Jayawardene, Parthiv Patel, Brad Hodge, Jadeja will all be eager to turn the tide.
Should the pitch play true, a high-scoring match cannot be ruled out. If David Warner, Venugopala Rao, Naman Ojha and Irfan are all due match-winning knocks for Daredevils, Tuskers' McCullum, Jayawardene and Patel have the ability to come hard at the host.
The team that loses on Sunday cannot afford another loss in its remaining matches. The winner will be a tad less desperate.
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