Shikhar Dhawan raced to 50 off 30 balls, however in the next 20 balls he faced, Shikhar could only score 21 runs. By the time Mohsin Khan got the better of Shikhar, the game was almost out of Punjab’s hands. KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan are all having problems scoring at a pace that the modern T20 game demands. 

The star of the show and the deserved Man of the Match is a young 21-year old pacer named Mayank Yadav. Making his IPL and LSG debut, Mayank finished with figures of 4-27-3  with 12 dot balls. Mayank who plays for Delhi in the domestic circuit had missed last year’s IPL due to injury but has been impressive this season and is an exciting talent for Lucknow and Indian Cricket.

Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock 54 (38), Krunal Pandya 43 (22) / Sam Curran 4-28-3, Arshdeep Singh 3-30-2.

Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan 70 (50), Jonny Bairstow 42 (29) / Mayank Yadav 4-27-3, Mohsin Khan 4-34-2.

Nicholas Pooran Stars with the Bat and as Captain 

For a change KL Rahul went early for LSG after scoring 15 (9), Devdutt Padikkal that came in also decided to not stick around too long departing after scoring just 9 (6). From this point onwards, the game was always firmly in LSG’s hands. Although there were no big partnerships, everyone that came in contributed especially Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya. At this point , one has to wonder whether the wrong Pandya brother is in contention for the 2024 T20 WC Indian team. 

Punjab bowling struggled once again with Harshal Patel and Deepak Chahar once again being the biggest culprits. PBKS do not have the resources in their squad and their bowling may just be the reason that they won’t make the playoffs this year. Another point of discussion is Shikhar’s captaincy, no one has to wonder why he decided to give Harshal his full quota of four overs and only gave Brar two overs and Arshdeep just three overs. 

A Crippled Livingstone Could Not Save Punjab

LSG still have a bowling problem but they have half addressed with the addition of Mayank Yadav. No, it’s up to the others to raise their game. If they do, LSG are a very formidable team and can easily make it to the top four this year. At 101/0 in the 11th over and with two set batsmen on the crease, there is no excuse for Punjab for fumbling this chase. Not just Dhawan, but the likes of Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh Sharma got out playing awful shots, the latter being an Indian international should be a worry for the national selectors.

The game should have been won by LSG by 40-50 runs but Livingstone who was suffering from a hamstring injury smacked 20 in the last over to help Punjab improve their NRR. It remains to be seen if Livingstone can recover in time for their next game. If not, Punjab will have bigger problems than they already have. 

What’s Next

• GT vs SRH – Sunday, 1st April 2024 – Afternoon Game
• DC vs CSK – Sunday, 1st April 2024 – Evening Game
• LSG will travel to Bengaluru on Tuesday & PBKS will face GT at Ahmedabad on Thursday

Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings have had contrasting starts to the IPL 2024 season. While Chennai have brushed past RCB and GT, the Capitals have been beaten convincingly by Punjab and Rajasthan. For DC to pick up their first win of the season, they’ll need to step up their performances on all fronts. 

CSK could not have hoped for a better start to the season under new captain Ruturaj Gaikwad. Whether it be batting or bowling, every single player has stepped up and they’ll be hoping for more of the same against Delhi. The bigger question for CSK supporters would be whether they’ll be able to see MS Dhoni bat for the first time this season.

We expect CSK to come out on top, but Delhi may make things difficult for CSK especially if Delhi’s middle order led by captain Rishabh Pant can contribute.

Delhi Capitals vs Chennai Super Kings – Match Odds 

Delhi Capitals are too good of a side to be playing so poorly

In all fairness, DC have not looked like a weak team in their 2 games so far. Despite losing both of their opening games, they had every opportunity to win those games but ultimately lost out on key battles at crucial moments of the games. It’s their batting that’s mostly the worry, apart from David Warner and Mitchell Marsh none of the other batters have really stepped up, especially the Indian contingent among them. While it’s good to see Pant back in action on the pitch, it will take some time for the Indian Wicketkeeper to go back to being his best self. 

The addition of Mukesh Kumar in place of Ishant Sharma does feel like the right choice although he did go for as many as 49 in the previous game. It’s also a bit of a mystery as to why Pant decided to not give any overs to Mitchell Marsh in their previous game against Rajasthan. Delhi will need to get the win here against CSK, if they are to have any hopes of making it to the playoffs. A loss here would mean they will need to win 8 of their last 11 games to have any chance of qualifying.

CSK are the team to beat in IPL 2024

Chennai are off to the perfect and will be hoping to keep their 100% perfect record against Delhi. The batters have all looked in excellent form and so have their bowlers. The addition of Matheesha Pathirana has in fact bolstered their already strong bowling lineup. As mentioned, when it comes to CSK, neutrals and CSK supporters are not worried about their team making it to the playoffs or not, they are more worried about whether they’ll get to see the legendary MSD make an appearance with the bat in the game.

We expect CSK to pick up another easy win here against Delhi.

FuturePlay Betting Tips – Delhi Capitals vs Chennai Super Kings

Don’t see the value in the winner’s market here. Chennai are overwhelming favorites and rightly so. 

• Highest Opening Partnership – Delhi Capitals @ 1.97
• R Ravindra to Score a Fifty – Yes @ 3.65

Expected Team Lineups

Delhi Capitals – David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Sumit Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mukesh Kumar, Khalil Ahmed.

Chennai Super Kings – Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube, Daryl Mitchell, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana.

When, Where & Trivia

• Venue: ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam
• Date: 31st March, 2024
• H2H: In the 29 times these teams have faced each other, Chennai has won 19 times while Delhi have won only 10 times.
• Key Players to Watch: Rishabh Pant (DC) & Rachin Ravindra (CSK)

Both Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad come into this game with a 1 Win and 1 Loss from their opening 2 fixtures. SRH though do look the better of the two sides coming into this game with their batters firing on all cylinders. GT in all fairness have been the poorest team in the IPL so far and count themselves lucky to have picked up the win vs MI in their opener. 

While the bookies are still favoring GT to win, mainly due to their track record over the past seasons and the fact that they are playing at home, we will back SRH to get their 2nd win of the season. The best case scenario for Gujarat would be to let SRH bat first and then try to restrict them to a chasable total.

Gujarat Titans vs Sunrisers Hyderabad – Match Odds

Can Gujarat Titans Bounce Back?

Gujarat were pretty much steamrolled and outplayed in their previous game against Chennai Super Kings. The absence of Joshua Little, Noor Ahmad, and Mohammed Shami has severely dented the GT bowling unit this year. Playing back at home should give them some confidence, but for Gujarat to repeat the success from previous seasons, they’ll need their batters to step-up. Captain Gill hasn’t had the best start to the season but he would only need one solid knock to get back into the thick of things. The problem GT would be middle order with the likes of Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, and David Miller, looking far from convincing in their matches so far. We wouldn’t be surprised if Kane Williamson makes the playing XI versus SRH at the expense of Spencer Johnson. 

A win for SRH would make them a strong candidate for the Playoff spot

After narrowly losing against KKR in their opener, SRH came back with a statement performance against MI by breaking all sorts of batting records. Scoring 277, irrespective of the nature of the pitch is no small task and they’d back themselves to score big once against a depleted GT bowling line-up. It also remains to be seen whether Travis Head can make another impact with the bat as he did against Mumbai. If SRH do have a problem to address it would be their bowling, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has conceded 50+ in both their opening games and the likes of Undakat, Markande, and Umran Malik, also do not inspire confidence. T. Natarajan may make his way back to the line-up after missing out on the game against Mumbai in place of Undakat or Umran Malik.

SRH should consider themselves the favorites for this encounter, but we wouldn’t put it past GT to spring a surprise, especially if captain Gill comes good with the bat.

FuturePlay Betting Tips – GT vs SRH

• SRH to Win – 2.00
• Most Sixes – SRH @ 1.72

Expected Teams – Gujarat Titans versus Sunrisers Hyderabad

Gujarat Titans – Wriddhiman Saha, Shubman Gill, Vijay Shankar, Kane Williamson, David Miller, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Umesh Yadav, Sai Kishore, Mohit Sharma. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad – Mayank Agarwal, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, T. Natarajan.

WHEN, WHERE & TRIVIA

• Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
• Date: 31st March, 2024
• H2H: Both these teams have faced each other 3 times and Gujarat has won 2 of those encounters.
• Key Players to Watch: Shubman Gill (GT) and Travis Head (SRH)