Delhi face pool’s ‘toughest team’

On Saturday, they face Himachal — an experienced side — in their third one-dayer. Himachal had lost their opening encounter against Services, but bounced back to beat Haryana by eight wickets.

The Kotla track will, once again, assist the batsmen, as long as they are patient. Scoring runs should be easy on the same pitch where Delhi chased 274 without losing a wicket against Punjab.

The Delhi openers have been in great form. Aakash Chopra has scored two consecutive centuries and is currently the highest run-getter in the 2007-08 season with more than 1400 runs.

Shikhar Dhawan got an unbeaten 139 against Punjab’s handy bowling attack, that comprised, among others VRV and Gagandeep Singh.

But despite two consecutive victories, Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya says that his side cannot afford to take this game lightly.

In fact, there might be a change in the line-up keeping the strength of the Himachal team in mind.

“This game is more important than the one against Punjab. Himachal is the toughest team in the pool,” Dahiya said.

If Delhi have the likes of Chopra, Dhawan, Mitthun Manhas, Mayank Tehlan, Puneet Bisht and Rajat Bhatia in their batting line-up, Himachal is being bolstered by the likes of Hemant Dogra, Sandeep Sharma, Paras Dogra and VS Malik in their team. If Delhi manage to clinch an outright victory against Himachal, they have a strong chance of making it into the quarters.