“Yahan itna ball bounce ho raha hai, andar bilkul uth nahi raha hai (It’s bouncing so much here at the practice pitch, while there’s none at the ground),” Englishman Owais Shah vented out his frustration in fluent Hindi, underlining the nature of Kotla’s main wicket after batting at the nets. Glenn McGrath was the only other big name at the optional nets for Delhi Daredevils, but he may not have too many complains about it.

However, one thing is certain: The Daredevils batsmen will have to do way with their cut and pull shots on Sunday evening, knowing that the pitch will behave exactly like it did on Friday, if they want the result to be in their favour this time. Having lost the first match to Victoria Bushrangers, the Daredevils are in a must-win situation against Wayamba. It only adds to what is expected to be an intriguing battle between the home team and the visiting bowling line-up from the Sri Lankan province on a pitch that is anything but ideal for a T20 game.

Within 11 international players in their ranks, Wayamba have big spin threats in the form of Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath and Kaushal Lokurachchi and pacers Farveez Maharoof and Isuru Udana. Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Tillakartne Dilshan and Shah will have to restrict their natural aggressive instincts and changing their range of shot-selection.

The Daredevils have been forced with a batting replacement. Mithun Manhas, who lent sensibility in the middle, is out for three weeks having torn his hamstring. Manoj Tiwary is ready to step in, but youngster Yogesh Nagar’s part-time off-spin is a tempting choice. It’s with the ball that Delhi are looking to gamble — using the long overdue option of McGrath in place of Pradeep Sangwan.

... contd.