Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Average score at venue: 161
Win percentage while batting first: 40.43%
Pitch conditions:
- Both Team Chennai and Team Delhi will look to make most of the perfect batting conditions at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Monday night, especially given the fact that the teams batting second, or those who are chasing, have had a successful record at this venue
- Fast bowlers have a greater success rate at this venue with 67.12% of the wickets coming their way, compared to the spin bowlers getting 32.88% of the dismissals.
Weather prediction:
There will be scattered clouds in the afternoon after isolated thunderstorms early on Monday morning in Dubai. The temperature will thus be slightly cooler with 34°C later in the day, and dropping down to 32°C in the evening. The humidity levels will be around 55-60%.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD:
Matches played: 24
Team Delhi won: 9
Team Chennai won: 15
No result: –
Last 5 matches:
Team Delhi won: 3
Team Chennai won: 2
No result: –
Top 3 players from Team Delhi: Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan
Top 3 players from Team Chennai: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Ravindra Jadeja
Top picks for H2H/WTA contest (top 5 players each):
Top 5 players from Team Delhi: Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Steve Smith
Top 5 players Team Chennai: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Ravindra Jadeja, Ambati Rayudu, M Dhonii
Q&A:
Should I pick more bowlers, batsmen or all-rounders?
In a clash between the top two teams of the tournament, the table-toppers Team Chennai will take on the second best side – only in terms of the Net Run Rate –Team Delhi. These two teams are occupying the top two slots in the Indian T20 League 2021 points table as of now, and they would not want to take any further risks by experimenting with their team combinations so close to the Indian T20 League playoffs stage. In this contest, while Team Delhi will want to make most of their current form of winning 4 out of their last 5 matches, Team Chennai will be keen to bounce back from their disappointing loss to Rajasthan in their last match, which saw their NRR dropping below to 0.829. With both Team Delhi and Team Chennai carrying some really strong and in-form batsmen, it will be wise to add more to the batting strength, especially given that the venue in Dubai has witnessed teams chasing big totals with ease.
From which team should I pick more players in my XI? Which team is stronger?
This is a situation in which the fantasy players are going to feel spoiled for choices since it is a contest between two of the best sides in the Indian T20 League 2021 edition. Team Chennai and Team Delhi have some of the best players in the tournament across departments, with the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shreyas Iyer from India and Faf du Plessis as well as Steve Smith being the overseas stars to watch out for in this game. Both the teams have had an identical run in Indian T20 League 2021 with 12 matches played, 9 won and 3 lost. In the points table, it is only the NRR which separates these two teams. There should be a great balance of batsmen and bowlers while the fantasy playing XI should also carry players who can spring surprises, such as the Delhi captain Rishabh Pant and even Shardul Thakur in the Team Chennai camp.
MORE INFORMATION: Team Chennai are coming off a defeat at the hands of Rajasthan, who produced a splendid batting effort to surprise the three-time title winners by 7 wickets in their previous match. On the other hand, Team Delhi were able to get the better of Mumbai Indians in what turned out to be a low-scoring contest on Saturday afternoon, which certainly helped them in making a strong statement against the defending champions to have usually dominated the bilateral cricket between the two teams. For Team Chennai, there are no particular concerns barring the form of their middle-order batsman and one of the most successful in the history of Indian T20 League, Suresh Raina, who has had a quiet Indian T20 League 2021 edition so far.
Players’ form: It was really unfortunate for Ruturaj Gaikwad to have lost his maiden century in Indian T20 League and yet end up on the losing side. IT was due to the fact that Team Rajasthan batsmen were absolutely magnificent on the day of the contest, but none of them were as good as Gaikwad when it came to scrutiny. The right-handed opening batsman will look to continue with his rich form and keep providing Team Chennai with a strong start in the company of South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis, who is enjoying his cricket with a lot of freedom. For Delhi Capitals, it will be important for their opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw to make some runs after having ordinary returns in recent matches.
Changes in squad (if any): NO
LIKELY XIs:
Team Delhi: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Steven Smith, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (c&wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Akshar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan, Anrich Nortje.
Team Chennai: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhonii (c&wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran / Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, KM Asif, Josh Hazlewood.
FANTASY XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Faf du Plessis, Steve Smith, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhonii (wk), KM Asif, Avesh Khan (vc), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur.
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Delhi take on Chennai in clash of table-toppers
Team Chennai will look to bounce back from their disappointing defeat by 7 wickets at the hands of Team Rajasthan, make the most of their current form and promise as they look to end their three-match unbeaten run against Delhi, whom they face in the Match No 50 of Indian T20 League 2021 in Dubai on Monday night.
While Team Chennai have dominated the proceedings between the two teams with 15 victories out of 24 matches played so far in which Delhi have won only 9, then M Dhonii-led team has been defeated in the last three matches comprehensively.
For Team Chennai, it will be imperative to get back to their imperious form with both bat and the ball after having a miss-balanced game against Rajasthan. Gaikwad was absolutely magnificent in scoring his first Indian T20 League century for Team Chennai after getting regular at the top from late last season. After plenty of half-centuries which provided Team Chennai with strong starts, Gaikwad was able to bat through the innings to score 101 not out properly 60 balls which propelled the team to a strong total of 189/4.
However, it was the bowlers who let Team Chennai down against Rajasthan. The RR batsmen were able to score more than 75 runs inside for six overs, setting up the platform for a big chase which was completed by Shivam Dube, who scored a brilliant 64 not out while punishing all the Team Chennai bowlers around the park.
On their part, Team Delhi could be eager to continue with their winning run having defeated Mumbai Indians in a low-scoring contest on Saturday afternoon. While Team Delhi do not have severe concerns to deal with, they still would like some more runs from the likes of Shaw, Dhawan and even No 3 star Steve Smith as well as Shimron Hetmyer, with Iyer carrying the responsibility of getting the runs for their side.
