Delhi Daredevils who loss the first match against KKR in the opening of the tournament, will look to earn their first points when they host Rajastan Royals at the Feroz Kotla on Saturday.
Sehwag ruled out from this match also due to back injury and he was missed at the top of the order. Captain Mahela Jayawardene will also count on his middle order batsmen to chip in with valuable runs.
Unmukt Chand, who scored two back-to-back tons in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, will look to shrug off his first-ball dismissal against KKR and form a good partnership with Sehwag early on. Jayawardene will turn to his fast-bowling trio of Ashish Nehra, Umesh Yadav and Irfan Pathan to restrict the Rajasthan batsmen from scoring freely.
As for the Rajasthan Royals,Rahul Dravid-led side continued to invest in strengthening their Indian player pool and have snapped up a few who have done well in the recently concluded domestic season.Watson had missed around eight to nine matches in the previous edition of the IPL and his availability from the first game this year could hand Rajasthan Royals a good start.
Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane will form a formidable opening pair at the top, with the experience of Shane Watson to follow. Shreevats Goswami can also be a good option in the middle-order. England’s Owais Shah, who played a couple of handy knocks last year. They could also opt for the 22-year-old all-rounder James Faulkner.
Key Players
M Jayawardene Blending finesse with aggression, mastering both swing and seam, Mahela Jayawardene will be engine-room of the Delhi batting unit. The Sri Lankan stalwart's shrewd leadership could very well galvanize the injury-ravaged Daredevils.
S Watson: Having endured a horrendous Test series versus India, a fighting fit Watson would be itching to plunge into form straightaway. The multi-dimensional Aussie ace is Dravid's stick of dynamite!
Squad
Delhi Daredevils (Probable): David Warner, Virender Sehwag,Unmukt Chand, Johan Botha, Mahela Jayawardene (c), NamanOjha (wk), Andre Russell, Irfan Pathan, Shahbaz Nadeem,Umesh Yadav, Ashish Nehra.
Rajasthan Royals (Probable): Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Dravid (c), Shane Watson, Owais Shah, James Faulkner, DishantYagnik, Harmeet Singh, Brad Hogg, S Sreesanth, Amit Singh, Siddharth Trivedi.
