Cricket Indian Premier League Prediction

Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Capitals - Match Preview

🏏 10 May 2023 - 18:00 GMT +0

Match N55 of this year’s IPL between the high-rolling Chennai Super Kings and the lowly Delhi Capitals may be a top vs bottom clash on paper, but the Capitals (W4, L6) have recently hit their straps and are now making their move up the table in pursuit of a berth in the playoffs. Hoping to halt their ascendancy and secure their own place in the top four will be MS Dhoni and his team (W6, L4) who will look to take advantage of their 17-10 lead in the overall H2H history.

Four-time champions Chennai have seemingly made last year’s ninth-place finish a distant memory in the minds of their faithful after winning six of their ten matches to date in IPL 2023. However, they have lacked consistency in their performances and come into this game having just snapped a two-match losing streak (and one no result) with a comprehensive six-wicket win over the Mumbai Indians on Saturday.

A Malinga-esque four-over spell from Matheesha Pathirana (who was originally wanted by CSK just to be a net bowler but wasn’t granted permission from Sri Lanka Cricket) saw him claim 3/15, and two wickets apiece from fellow seamers Deepak Chahar (2/18) and Tushar Deshpande (2/26) helped restrict Mumbai to just 138/8. Another excellent opening stand of 46 from 4.1 overs between Devon Conway who made 44, taking his season tally to 458 (avg 57.25), and 30 from Rutauraj Gaikwad which took his tally this year to 358, formed the perfect platform to assure the Super Kings of taking the points.

There are few areas of concern in either discipline for the CSK coaches. However, with the bat in the middle overs (7-16) their batters could do with putting their foot down on the accelerator, as they are currently scoring on average just 79.36 runs in that period with only the Titans’ and Capitals’ batters making fewer. With the ball, their attack has been slow out of the traps conceding 9.27rpo in the powerplays, with only the Knight Riders’ and Sunrisers’ bowlers leaking more.

The Delhi Capitals have recovered really well from their dreadful start this year, losing their first five matches by winning four of their last five, with their most recent being a seven-wicket triumph over the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday in front of their home crowd. Steady and tidy bowling from their six bowlers restricted RCB to 181/4 off their 20 overs with trundler Mitch March being the pick of the pack with his 2/21 off his three overs bowled. In their chase, opener Phil Salt, at last, got the rub of the green that he probably thought he was deprived of, with an excellent 87 off 45 balls. Along with other fine innings from Rilee Rossouw (35), Marsh (26) and David Warner (22), the home side breezed to victory with 20 balls to spare.

It’s been a tough ride for Ricky Ponting’s team, which has not been helped by woeful efforts from his batters once the powerplay is done and dusted. The Capitals have the worst record of all franchises for runs scored throughout the middle overs (7-16) and death overs (17-20), averaging 73.70 and 32.50 runs respectively. Things have been equally bad for his bowlers in the death overs where they have leaked 41.20 per match, again the worst of all teams.

⚡ Players to watch: The Super Kings’ most successful bowler this season has been seamer Tushar Deshpande with 19 wickets at 20.84 apiece. However, he has been expensive, going at 10.33rpo. For the Capitals, their captain, David Warner, has been a lone wolf with the bat, holding his side together almost single-handedly, registering their top score in five of their 11 matches so far and being their only batter in the top 24 run scorers with 330 (avg 33.00) as of Monday.

📋 Stat attack: The Super Kings have clubbed 93 sixes so far this year compared to the Capitals who have accrued just 42!

• As well as accruing the most sixes of a match seven times this year, Chennai has also posted the highest opening partnership on seven occasions.
• David Warner has a top score of just 57 and a strike rate of 112.20 from his 12 IPL innings in Chennai (3x 50s).
• Since 2019, the Super Kings have won eight of their ten home matches when made favourites.
• The average first innings score at Chepauk is 162, with that rising this season to 173 in 2023 matches.
• The Capitals lose 70% of matches at an opposition venue when the coin toss does not fall in their favour.
• Ravindra Jadeja to David Warner in all-white ball cricket (ODI, T20I, IPL): 1/203 from 29 overs.
• Moeen Ali clubbed 45 runs from 15 balls bowled by Kuldeep Yadav in the only time they met in the IPL (five 6s and three 4s).