Starry Delhi up against experienced Scorchers by Asher Wilson

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Scorecard:	Delhi Daredevils v Perth Scorchers
Event:	Champions League 2012/13

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DateLine: 21st October 2012

 

Delhi Daredevils v Perth Scorchers
Match Preview
Champions League 2012

 

A star-studded Delhi Daredevils will be up against the experience of Perth Scorchers in their bid to close in on a semifinal berth when the two sides clash in a Group A match of the Champions League Twenty20 today. The teams are pretty much on a level footing as things stand with both having missed out in their previous game due to rain.

 

After winning their tournament-opener, second-placed Delhi's cricketers were left to warm the benches as rain washed out their second game against Auckland Aces in Johannesburg last time.

 

Perth Scorchers, on the other hand, are lying bottom of the heap with a loss and a couple of points from Thursday's wash-out. They desperately need to win to have any chance of staying afloat in the tournament.

 

Delhi dominated their IPL counterparts Kolkata Knight Riders in their first match in the competition. Though their batsmen didn't put up the best show, the team posted a competitive total, which their pace quartet successfully defended.

 

In David Warner, skipper Mahela Jayawardene, Virender Sehwag, Kevin Pietersen and Ross Taylor, the Delhi Daredevils have four proven match-winners. Add to the mix, teen sensation Unmukt Chand and Delhi seem to have five impact players.

 

Their bowling attack too is lethal and capable of giving the best batting line-ups sleepless nights. Morne Morkel's ability to generate bounce and knowledge of local conditions, makes him quite a handful. Irfan Pathan has regained some of his lost touch and the young Umesh Yadav has also been relishing the conditions in South Africa.

 

The Perth Scorchers, meanwhile, will look to their top order to do bulk of the run-scoring. Herschelle Gibbs hasn't touched double digits in the Champions League yet. However, the Scorchers will hope that he and other top order batsmen, the likes of Marcus North and Shaun Marsh provide a good start as altogether they have a lot of firepower and experience. While Gibbs was the second-highest run-getter for them in their Big Bash League campaign, behind Mitchell Marsh's tally of 309 runs, skipper North was not too far behind with an aggregate of 273 runs in eight innings.

 

The Scorchers will look to play with five regular bowlers, so Paul Collingwood will probably be on the bench yet again. Their bowlers will take the field after a gap of a week so they may be a bit out of touch. They will have to find their rhythm quickly so as to not be demolished by Delhi's batting. Nathan Coulter-Nile was sensational in the Big Bash but hasn't had a bowl in the CLT20 yet. He will be a surprise package for Delhis batsmen to pick. Nathan Rimmington will be assigned the task of keeping things quiet towards the end of Delhi's innings. Brad Hogg and Michael Beer will get a decent amount of turn. The Scorchers have a balanced bowling attack overall.

 

Delhi Daredevils: Mahela Jayawardene, Ajit Agarkar, Unmukt Chand, Morne Morkel, Pawan Negi, Naman Ojha, Irfan Pathan, Kevin Pietersen, Andre Russell, Aavishkar Salvi, Virender Sehwag, Ross Taylor, Venugopal Rao, David Warner, Umesh Yadav.

 

Perth Scorchers: Marcus North, Tom Beaton, Michael Beer, Paul Collingwood, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ryan Duffield, Ben Edmondson, Herschelle Gibbs, Brad Hogg, Simon Katich, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Joe Mennie, Nathan Rimmington, Luke Ronchi.

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
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