Delhi Daredevils to face Rajasthan Royals

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Delhi Daredevils to face Rajasthan Royals

Posted by admin on Apr 27th, 2009 // No Comment

The GMR group has a dream to accomplish this year and it is not about buying a stake in Liverpool. They simply want to win IPL 2009. So what is special about that? Every franchise that has invested big money in this tournament wants to win it.

But, then, there’s a difference. The GMR group believes that unless it wins the tournament as soon as possible, making a profit out of their investments in this multi-million dollar cricketing wheel would be next to impossible.

To earn out of this, you need to build a brand. To build a brand, you need to win.

If that is precisely what the owners of Team Delhi have in mind, they don’t seem to be very far from achieving the feat. The manner in which Virender Sehwag’s side has been marching ahead, there’s little doubt now that they are among the firm favourites to win IPL Season Two.

On Tuesday, they play Team Jaipur, last year’s champions who are somewhat off the boil in this edition. Shane Warne’s men didn’t click with the ball or the bat in Sunday’s clash with Kings XI Punjab. The loss was another setback to what is already a poor start.

While Warne may have that unique ability to keep pulling his side out from all the mess they get into, drubbing Team Delhi at Centurion on Tuesday won’t be any easy task.

For a team that has Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir as openers but has not relied on the duo so far, there is a belligerent middle-order in place taking care of the affairs. Warne’s worry here is that if the openers click – and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t – things could just turn far more messy.

In the first match, Daniel Vettori claimed three wickets while Sehwag took care of the batting department in a truncated outing. In the second game, AB de Villiers struck form with the tournament’s first century, and in their third victory here, Tillakaratne Dilshan led the side to an enthralling win.

For the skipper, it can hardly get better than having his premier overseas cricketers giving their best.

Compare that to Warne’s misery so far: Graeme Smith is yet to get into his own, Shane Watson and Sohail Tanvir are missing and his T20 experts Rob Quiney and Dmitri Mascarenhas haven’t exactly struck form as yet.

The only cricketer Jaipur’s batting have been riding on is Yusuf Pathan and knowing Sehwag, he’s the one Delhi will be targeting.