NEW DELHI, Apr 26:
It will be a test of character and battle for supremacy when Delhi Daredevils and Gujarat Lions, two of the most impressive teams of IPL 9, lock horns against each other at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground here tomorrow.
Barring one bad day in office, both Daredevils and Gujarat Lions had a near perfect campaign so far in the tournament.
While new outfit Gujarat Lions are lying in the second spot in the eight-team standings with eight points from five matches, the Daredevils are a place below in the third position with six points from four games.
After the loss to Kolkata Knight Riders by nine wickets in their tournament opener, the Daredevils bounced back strongly riding on collective efforts to comfortably beat Kings XI Punjab, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians in their next three games to surge ahead in the points table.
Gujarat Lions too had a dream debut in their opening IPL season, having won three consecutive games — against Kings XI Punjab, Rising Pune Supergiants and Mumbai Indians — before slumping to their only loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The Suresh Raina-led side, however, came back strongly to get the better of a star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last game.
And come tomorrow, both Daredevils and Gujarat Lions will be desperate to upstage each other to prove their supremacy.
After the flop show in their opening match, Daredevils batting came to the party in the last two games against RCB and Mumbai Indians. In the first match against Kolkata Knight Riders, the Daredevils got all-out for 98 and then went untested in the second game as the target was a meagre 112.
In the game against RCB, South African Quinton de Kock struck the first century of IPL 9 scoring 108 off just 51 deliveries to guide Daredevils to a seven wicket win while chasing an imposing 192-run target.
Against defending champions Mumbai Indians, it was the turn of young Sanju Samson (60) and JP Duminy (49 not out) who rose to the occasion to take the Zaheer Khan led side to 164 for four, a total which they defended to win by 10 runs. (PTI)
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