Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have the momentum going for them and will believe that lady luck is favouring them given the fact that they were nearly eliminated in the group stages but due to some remarkable happenings not only managed to make the playoffs but also emerged as winners in the Eliminator.
Favorites In Qualifier 2
Delhi Capitals lost Qualifier 1 against the Mumbai Indians and have a chance at redemption in Qualifier 2. They are the betting underdogs (1/1) going into Qualifier 2 on 08 November. The Capitals will be short on confidence given the fact that they were outplayed by the Mumbai Indians. They need to lift themselves and put that loss behind them if they are going to challenge SRH.
SRH (4/5) put in a great performance against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Eliminator and ended up with a convincing win. SRH appear to be more hungry and willing to go the extra year to secure a place in the 2020 IPL Championship.
Even though the odds makers do not have a lot between the two teams, we would put our money on SRH because they have immense experience between captain David Warner and Kane Williamson who are big match players.
Keys To Victory For SRH: Warner did not make much of an impact with the bat against RCB and will be eager to make up for that in Qualifier 2. Kane Williamson won the man of the match award in the Eliminator with a well-made 50 and knows that it will be up to him once again to hold the middle order together. If SRH are going to get a big score on the board, one or both of these two key players need to fire.
The Indian players in the SRH line-up need to make useful contributions and just not leave it to Warner and Williamson. The likes of M Pandey, S Goswami and P Garg need to step up to the table.
The bowlers delivered as a unit against RCB as the pacers took the wickets and the spinners kept things tight. They need to put in another good performance and keep the Capitals below 170, to give themselves a good chance a victory.
Keys To Victory For DC:
The Capitals had a great run during the group stages and looked very dominant as the bowling and batting fired consistently. However, their two losses to the Mumbai Indians have kind of deflated their confidence and shown other teams how to exploit their weaknesses.
Captain Shreyas Iyer will need to rally his troops and get them in a frame of mind where they believe they can not only beat SRH but go into the IPL Championship finals and defeat the Mumbai Indians.
Their immediate challenge will be to get David Warner out cheaply and keep Kane Williamson from rotating the strike. They will depend heavily on their pacers KG Rabada and A Nortje who proved to be very expensive against the Mumbai Indians.
The game could very well be decided by how well these two pacers go. If they have a good day with the ball, it should be a lot easier for the Capitals to win. R Ashwin and A Patel will also have to do a good job in the middle overs to keep things tight.
S Dhawan has had a good tournament but needs to fire at the top of the order to relieve the pressure on S Iyer and Rahane. If the openers get out cheaply, the talented middle-order will have to curtail their stroke play and look at getting to a respectable total instead of an intimidating total.
Decision: While the Capitals look the stronger team on paper, based on momentum and mental strength, we would put our money on SRH.
