Punjab Kings v Delhi Capitals IPL Tips: Punjab eye another run blitz

• Punjab short favs

• Dharamsala has been flat

• Stoinis one to watch -in-play

• Delhi a possible trade bat 1st

• Prab Singh short option

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Punjab Kings v Delhi Capitals
Thursday 8 May, 15:00
TV: Live on Sky Sports

Punjab Kings v Delhi Capitals IPL team news

Punjab are hitting form at exactly the right time with their batting and bowling metrics all going in the right direction. They have won their last two.

There has been a change in tactics in terms of personnel. They are very attacking with the bat with Azmatullah Omarzai being used instead of Xavier Bartlett. One possible switch from the team that beat Lucknow last time out is Harpreet Brar (extending their batting even more) being used as an impact sub to deploy his spin instead of Vijay Vyshak who cost 16 an over against LSG. 

Possibe Punjab Kings XI: Arya, Prab Singh (Harpreet sub), Inglis, Iyer, Wadhera, Shahsank, Stoinis, Azmat, Jansen, Chahal, Arshdeep

Delhi's numbers are going in the opposite direction. They appear to be in full-on collapse mode. It is one win in six and they were forunate one of those was a washout against Sunrisers.

They appeared to be heading for certain defeat in that game after their batting flopped again to post just 133 in Hyderabad. The run is so poor that even Jake Draser-McGurk may be in line to return.

Possible DC XI: Porel, Du Plessis, Nair, Rahul, Axar, Stubbs, Ashutosh (Mukesh sub), Vipraj, Starc, Chameera, Kuldeep

Punjab Kings v Delhi Capitals IPL pitch report

Dharamsala looks like a good batting wicket. The run rate in the last five years is at 9.6. The study sample is small although first-innings scores this year and last year of 241 by RCB and 236 by Punjab look to be significant pointers. The 20-over par line reflects that with an overs play at 202.5. Pre-toss that's a risk because we would much prefer Punjab's depth.

There were 23 and 29 sixes respectively in those games. We await a line from Sportsbook but there is a potential for going overs. In terms of per game averages Punjab are returning 9.8 and Delhi 7.2.

Punjab Kings v Delhi Capitals IPL match prediction

Punjab are 1.794/5 favourites. That is probably fair in terms of the two teams' current form. But Punjab are very much set up to do just the one thing well and that is score quickly. It's probably unfair to call them one-dimensional but they absolutely need Arshdeep Singh and Yuz Chahal to be bang at it with the ball.

It feels like now or never for Delhi. A good start would be to win the toss and bat. Given that state of the wicket they should have the ability, and assistance from a pricey Punjab bowling attack, to post something big enough to make them favourites at the break. A back-to-lay is on.

Punjab Kings v Delhi Capitals IPL pitch report

Marcus Stoinis has been a go-to top-bat pick because of his pre-tournament win rate of 27% on the last two years. He has not won yet but he has been batting down the order. He is likely to go off at around the 11/112.00 mark. It may be that we have to keep hitting the price but we would rather do so on a wicket which was not as flat. It oculd be tricky for Stoinis to get crease time. If Stoinis is a play it could be in-play. His odds will shoot up quickly and we'd be looking for at least treble.

Another in-play option is shorting Prab Singh's runs post powerplay. He's likely to be pitched at around the 22 mark pre-toss. He is a player who often makes starts but falls when the field is out. Nothing wrong with that and his attacking intent is to be admired. Sometimes he keeps going - as he did last time out and in the last three in total - but there is value at shporting at around 40.5 at 5/61.84.

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