Punjab Kings v Delhi Capitals IPL Tips; Punjab nerves to jangle again

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Monday 11 May,15:00
TV: Sky Sports

Punjab Kings v Delhi Capitals IPL team news

Punjab Kings are now in a battle to even make the top two after a disastrous three-game losing sequence. Defeats by Sunrisers, Gujarat and Rajasthan have dented faith. Twice they have been outmuscled with the bat.

Perhaps they will put that down to getting on the wrong end of a couple of tosses so panic may be in short supply.

It would be a surprise, therefore, if there were any significant team changes. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the balance of the team. A switch here and there could hurt confidence further.

Probable XI: Prabhsimran, Arya, Connolly, Shreyas, Shashank, Wadhera (sub Chahal), Stoinis, Jansen, Bartlett, Vyshak, Arshdeep

Delhi Capitals have lost five of their last six and defeat by Kolkata last time was another stinker of a performance. They could muster only 142 and were then beaten inside 14 overs with Finn Allen hitting a century.

The arrival of Mitchell Starc has done nowt to improve fortunes. Special shout out to Mukesh Kumar whose 0.2 overs against KKR cost 21 runs. Roles and batting orders are changing all the time and players won't know whether they're coming or going.

Possible XI: Nissanka, Rahul, Rana, Rizvi, Stubbs, Axar, Ashutosh (sub Kuldeep), Vipraj, Starc, Ngidi

Punjab Kings v Delhi Capitals IPL pitch report

This match takes place in Dharamsala. There have been 13 completed night T20 matches at the venue. Runs are on the menu it would appear with an RPO of 9.22 in that time. The split between first- and second-innings is 9.4 to 9. There is no toss bias.

In IPL, batting has been easier. The RPO is 9.8 from seven night matches (although there was a ten-year gap between fixtures after 2013). Punjab made 236 here last year and RCB 241.

To muddy the picture, though, we have seen bowlers dominate in internationals. And overhead conditions can make a big difference. There is cloud cover and rain around so being gung-ho about batters dominating might not be advised.

Punjab Kings v Delhi Capitals IPL match prediction

Punjab Kings would prefer to be in New Chandigarh for what is a crucial game to get their campaign back on track. The vagaries of the Dharamsala pitch may make them nervous. It makes us a little nervous, too.

The cloud cover is not what we want to see. Had the forecast been better the plan was to be on Punjab to win the match and hit the most sixes. This contest pitches the most destructive batting unit in the competition in terms of strike rate against the fourth slowest.

On a road, there should have been clear water. The Dharamsala surface could be a leveller. There's little to choose between the teams in terms of bowling economy.

It has to be said that the match odds market on the Exchange seems to be aware of the potential for an upset. Punjab are as big as 1.784/5 with DC only 2.265/4. It's a shame they're not a bit bigger as at the least a trade could have been on the cards with Punjab nerves jangling. In-play wait for a drift on DC to 2.407/5 and then look to lay at 1.705/7 for a profit all sides.

Punjab Kings v Delhi Capitals IPL player bets

If conditions do bring bowlers to the fore the middle- to lower-order top-bat gamble is not the worst strategy in the world. For Punjab Marcus Stoinis (a winner already this season) and Shahshank Singh offer possible value at 15/28.50 and 8/19.00.

For Delhi, Ashutosh Sharma and Axar Patel catch the eye. Ashutosh is DC's most dangerous six hitter statistically so can catch upo quickly. He is 10/111.00. Axar has batted up the order at times and looks too big at 11/112.00.

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