Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Average score at venue: 159
Win percentage while batting first: 37.25%
Pitch conditions:
- The pitch at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium has been a haven for the batsmen, especially those who get their chance in the second innings. The teams batting second have clinched victories in 8 out of 11 matches here, which means that winning the toss and fielding could be the call that the captains make for this contest.
- With 67.38% of the wickets coming their way, fast bowlers have had a better time in Sharjah compared to the spin bowlers, who have 32.62% of the dismissals to their credit.
Weather prediction:
It will be a bright and sunny day in general in Dubai on Sunday after an overcast sky in the early hours. With a high of 36°C one hour from noon, the mercury is expected to drop down to 32°C around the match hours on Sunday evening. The humidity levels will be around 60%.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD:
Matches played: 25
Team Chennai won: 15
Team Delhi won: 10
No result: –
Last 5 matches:
Team Chennai won: 1
Team Delhi won: 4
No result: –
Top 3 players from Team Chennai: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Ravindra Jadeja
Top 3 players from Team Delhi: Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant
Top picks for H2H/WTA contest (top 5 players each):
Top 5 players from Team Chennai: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Moeen Ali
Top 5 players Team Delhi: Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Anrich Nortje, Akshar Patel
Q&A
Should I pick more bowlers, batsmen or all-rounders?
In a format as fickle as T20 cricket, it is the batsmen who carry great responsibilities of garnering runs and putting opposition teams under scoreboard pressure. For example, even though their hopes were all but over for making it to the Indian T20 League playoffs, Team Mumbai came out all guns blazing and scored more than 230 runs to win the contest against Team Hyderabad, who themselves smacked close to 200 runs while chasing. In important clashes such as the Qualifier 1 between Chennai and Delhi, while the bowlers will carry huge responsibilities of keeping their team on top and of containing the opposition, it will be the batsmen who will have a bigger role to play.
From which team should I pick more players in my XI? Which team is stronger?
In the game of cricket, even an ordinary side can surprise a great team if it plays better on that match-day. Between Chennai and Delhi, there will be a tough fight to pick one team as favourites, given the kind of firepower that is there in their ranks along with the sheer quality of the teams which both these camps can field. However, recent form and results also help in arriving on such answers and this is where Delhi are certainly ahead of Chennai, for having won most matches in the group stage and earning most points too. On the other hand, Chennai have plenty of their players in form and were also leading the points table for a very long time in the group stage, but three recent defeats have derailed their momentum which they have to rediscover in the knockouts stage.
MORE INFORMATION: Chennai have lost as many as last 4 games to Delhi and in the ongoing Indian T20 League, and they are coming into the final round on the back of three consecutive defeats. All this is enough to demoralise and pressurise any cricket team in the world, especially when it is going to face the best team of the tournament in a knockout round. But such is the character of Dhonii’s Chennai, they just find a way to stage remarkable comebacks from the most hopeless situations and come the contest against Delhi in Qualifier 1, Chennai can be expected to be at the top of their game for one more special reason. Chennai’s legendary captain Dhonii might take a call on his playing future with the franchise, which means this could be the last time he is leading the team in the Indian T20 League. All this is more than enough fuel to fire up the Chennai side, who will also be without their English all-rounder Sam Curran, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the Indian T20 tournament as well as the upcoming Cricket T20 World Cup 2021 due to an injury.
Players’ form: For Delhi, the likes of Iyer, Dhawan, Shaw, Pant, Patel and Hetmyer will be the key with the bat. And with the ball, Delhi will hope that their young gun in Avesh Khan continues to fire in the company of senior players such as Ravichandran Ashwin, Anrich Nortje and even Kagiso Rabada. Chennai also have plenty of their players in form, starting with Gaikwad and du Plessis at the top and the likes of Moeen, Ambati Rayudu and Dhonii in the middle-order. Chennai will be the team which is in a more pressurising situation but they also know their way around these lanes, especially when it comes to the knockouts round and being ruthless in the way they play their game.
Changes in squad (if any): YES
LIKELY Xis:
Team Chennai: Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Robin Uthappa, M Dhonii (c&wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood.
Team Delhi: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (c& wk), Ripal Patel, Shimron Hetmyer, Akshar Patel, R Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan, Anrich Nortje
FANTASY XI: Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (vc), Rishabh Pant (wk), Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Avesh Khan, Akshar Patel, Anrich Nortje/Josh Hazlewood.
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Chennai, Delhi ready to battle of supremacy in Qualifier 1
Even though they are a bunch of more experienced players who also have experienced lifting the Indian T20 League title as many as three times, Chennai will be under severe pressure in the Qualifier 1 when they take on a rampant Delhi under the leadership of M Dhonii’s successor in the national cricket team, Rishabh Pant.
Pant is not the regular captain for Delhi but he has led the side with exemplary skills and qualities, with the team finishing right at the top spot in the points table with most points – 20 – than any other team in the circuit. Delhi also won the most number of matches in the group stage of the Indian T20 league this year, which certainly describes the form they are in.
Against such a formidable opponent which has all bases covered and plenty of its big names in form, the three-time title winners Chennai will be under pressure. Not only Chennai have lost three matches on the trot in the Indian T20 league from the juncture they qualified for the knockouts round, but they also have a poor recent run of matches against Team Delhi.
Chennai and Delhi have so far played 25 matches, and not surprisingly, the former have a better record with an overall 15 wins compared to the latter’s 10. But in the last 5 matches, the Delhi side has come back storming, winning all the last 4 games that these two teams have competed in so far – and all were comprehensive victories.
While it will be unfair to describe one team more hungry than the other, it is also a fact that Chennai have been the second best team in the tournament. Chennai finished second in the points table this year, and it must also be remembered that the team which loses Qualifier 1 on Sunday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, will have another chance to have a shot at the final in Qualifier 2. The losing side of Qualifier 1 will face the winner of Qualifier 2, which will be played between Team Bangalore and Team Kolkata.
It is also possible that both Chennai and Delhi meet in the final once again, but for now, the pressure will be firmly on both the teams to bring out their best. Delhi will hope that their star players in Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw and a few more in Akshar Patel and Shimron Hetmyer along with Anrich Nortje and Avesh Khan continue to deliver. On the other hand, Chennai will be confident knowing that they have enough in-form players such as Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo and even Josh Hazlewood to cause severe damage.
