Gujarat Titans will be up against Delhi Capitals in match number 44 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. It’s a fixture between two teams who find themselves in contrasting positions at the points table. While the defending champions are on top of the table at the moment with 6 wins from 8 games, the visiting team in this match set to be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, has just two victories from 8 matches and are at the bottom of the points table.

In the reverse fixtue, Gujarat had defeated Delhi at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. As far as the most recent matches of these teams are concerned, there too it’s pretty much the same story with Gujarat fresh off a win over the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) while Delhi succumbing to a defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

Other than just a look at the points table, Gujarat are far ahead of Delhi in several crucial parametrs. For instance, Gujarat have been the better chasing side, their batters have been in great form and they have a superb run rate in the final four overs. On the other side, Delhi have been far from their best and in a stat that might be hard to believe for some, they do not have a single batter who has been striking at over 140 this season so far.

Having said that Delhi would take hope from the fact that in their last three matches, they have two wins and a one close defeat, which means surely it is getting better for them after a nightmarish start. Their spinners have been one of the positives for them.

GT, meanwhile, have gelled well as a unit with each department finding a way to deliver the result and not dependant on one or two individuals which has been their major positive. Wriddhiman Saha’s form could be a slight cause of concern but as a pair, Shubman Gill and Saha have provided just the kind of starts that the team has needed and that could mean a longer rope for the keeper.

For Delhi, Prithvi Shawi and Abishek Porel can be looked at as players who can be given another chance.

This should be another humdinger of a contest.

Probable XIs:

GT: Wriddhiman Saha (Wicketkeeper), Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya (captain), Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Mohammed Shami, Josh Little

DC: David Warner (captain), Phil Salt (wicketkeeper), Mitchell Marsh, Manish Pandey, Sarfaraz Khan, Lalit Yadav/Ripal Patel, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Ishan Sharma, Mukesh Kumar