There’s little to choose between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals. Residents of the mid-table of IPL 2026, the two meet on Tuesday.
Both teams have blown hot and cold and have been very unpredictable with their performances. They have won the same number of matches, though Delhi have played a game less. So if Axar Patel’s team manage to tame the Sunrisers at their den, they will be gaining significant ground.
Despite all their similarities, Delhi and Sunrisers are very different in terms of their batting attack. While the Sunrisers rely a lot on their dynamic top three in the batting order, Delhi have been served best by their middle order.
Delhi will hope that the trio of Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Ishan Kishan do not strike gold together on Tuesday. They have been good only in patches and so Delhi, with a superior bowling attack, can hope to have the upper hand.
Lungi Ngidi, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, and skipper Axar have been Delhi’s chief bowlers. All of them fired in unison in their last game, which helped Delhi stun defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
But it’s not bowling which is Delhi’s strength, it’s their resilient middle order which has been pulling off gritty victories. Initially, Sameer Rizvi was playing those match-winning knocks, but of late, South African Tristan Stubbs has come as a reliable hand in the middle order. Old horse David Miller too has looked good. Delhi will want openers KL Rahul and Pathum Nissanka to show more consistency.
The Sunrisers did well to win their last game, against Chennai Super Kings, by 10 runs. In fact, Sunrisers have won their last two games on the back of some good bowling, especially their pacers.
The emergence of Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain has added some much-needed zing to their attack. Hinge, however, conceded 15 runs per over in the CSK game, so he
will have to redraw his strategies. Sri Lankan Ehsan Malinga and all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy have been consistent, while left-arm wrist spinner Shivang Kumar has been a revelation.