Virender Sehwag

New Delhi: Delhi DareDevils, still reeling under the shock therapy they received at the hands of Shoaib Akhtar on Tuesday, are desperately looking to end the losing streak when they take on Deccan Chargers at the rain-hit Kotla Thursday.

With four defeats on the trot, DareDevils’ hopes of making the last four is clearly in jeopardy and a loss against the Hyderabad team would effectively bring the curtain down on their IPL chances. Deccan Chargers, on the other hand, have lost seven of their nine matches and are only hoping to regain some prestige.

But, then, with Virender Sehwag and Adam Gilchrist on either side, fans at the Kotla are hoping for a high voltage clash between two of modern cricket’s most exciting batsmen. Sehwag was a runaway winner in the first round in Hyderabad when he cracked a hurricane 94 to spell doom for the home team. It remains to be seen what Gilchrist has in store for the Kotla crowd in the return leg.

According to team sources the Delhi management is extremely upset with the way Sehwag’s men threw their wickets away at Eden Gardens Tuesday.

On Wednesday, none of the two teams could practice at the Kotla because of heavy rains in the capital. Though the pitch remained covered, the water-logged practice ground was slushy and unfit for practice.

Delhi team sources said the home team is unlikely to make any change in the team that played against Knight Riders at the Eden. “We have no choice but to depend on the flamboyance on Sehwag and (Gautam) Gambhir to bring us back on the winning path,” said an official.

“Our bowlers did a wonderful job against the Calcutta side. Our batsmen let us down completely,” he added.

Adam Gilchrist admitted that it would be difficult for his team to make a comeback in the tournament. He also held the Delhi side in high esteem.

“They are a well-balanced unit. Glenn McGrath is bowling well and they have Farveez Mahroof also. We will have to raise our game to beat them,” Gilchrist said.

TEAMS

Delhi DareDevils (from): Virender Sehwag (captain), Rajat Bhatia, AB de Villiers, Shikhar Dhawan, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Pradeep Sangwan, Gautam Gambhir, Brett Geeves, Dinesh Karthik Glenn McGrath, Farveez Maharoof, Shoaib Malik, Tejashwi Yadav, Yomahesh, Mithun Manhas, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Asif, Yogesh Nagar, Manoj Tiwary and Mayank Tehlan.

Deccan Chargers (from): Adam Gilchrist (captain) Sanjay Bangar, Halhadar Das (wk), Herschelle Gibbs, Scott Styris D Kalyankrishna,, Pragyan Ojha, Dwaraka Ravi Teja PM Sarvesh Kumar, Shahid Afridi, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Chaminda Vaas, Venugopal Rao, Paidikalva Vijaykumar, Arjun Yadav and Nuwan Zoysa

Match starts: 8pm