Balanced Delhi Favourites Against Injury-hit Punjab

Mohali: It will be a test of leadership when the two new captains of Kings XI Punjab & Delhi Daredevils take the field.

The third game of IPL 2010 sees Kings XI Punjab play host to Delhi Daredevils in a tussle to win some early advantage in the series.

Kumar Sangakkara will lead the Kings XI Punjab for the first time, and will hope to inspire his team with his undoubted leadership skills, apart from his majestic batting ability. Yuvraj Singh will adopt the game-breaker role - his aggressive instinct could demoralise any side.

Delhi Daredevils' talisman Virender Sehwag is the away side's go-to guy in times of difficulty. And with the rigors of captaincy off his shoulders, Sehwag could unleash his fury on the Kings.

Irrespective of the result, both sides know it's a long and hard journey to book a semi-final spot. A win for either side, however, will set them up rather nicely in this tough as nails tournament.

Team from

Kings XI Punjab: KC Sangakkara (capt & wk), YA Abdulla, L Ablish, Amanpreet Singh, AB Barath, Bipul Sharma, MS Bisla (wk), RS Bopara, PP Chawla, K Goel, JR Hopes, DPMD Jayawardene, M Kaif, B Lee, VS Malik, SE Marsh, IK Pathan, RR Powar, RS Sodhi, S Sreesanth, SJ Srivastava, TM Srivastava, J Theron, Yuvraj Singh 

Delhi Daredevils: G Gambhir (capt), S Ladda, Joginder Singh, R Bhatia, AB de Villiers, TM Dilshan, MC Henriques, KM Jadhav, KD Karthik (wk), AB McDonald, MF Maharoof, M Manhas, A Mishra, DP Nannes, A Nehra, WD Parnell, S Ranjan, AM Salvi, PJ Sangwan, Sarandeep Singh, V Sehwag, DA Warner, U Yadav

Pitch and condition
The Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali. Home team Kings XI Punjab will be hoping to get off to a great start, giving their fans something to cheer about early in the competition. The track is batsmen-friendly and with a lush green outfield, Mohali is all set to dish out a mouthwatering affair.

The weather is expected to be pleasant, with no rain. A tight encounter is on the cards.

Stats and trivia

• Ashish Nehra was the third highest wicket-taker in IPL 2009 with 19 at 18.21 and an economy rate of 6.78 from 13 games. In contrast, Sreesanth managed just six wickets from seven opportunities at 32.00 and an economy rate of 8.34.
• Delhi were one of the best teams during the last six overs in IPL 2009 - they scored at more than nine runs per over and restricted their opponents to around eight, thanks to bowlers like Nehra.
• That said, Delhi also bowled the most wides (68) and no-balls (19), the highest for a team last season.
• In South Africa, Punjab suffered 22 run outs, the highest for a team. Delhi suffered this fate only six times, but inflicted 22 run-outs on the opposition, the most by a fielding team.
• Punjab beat Delhi in both matches during the 2008 season: by four wickets at home and by six runs away. They then suffered a heavy ten-wicket loss in their first encounter in 2009 but restored the advantage by beating Delhi by six wickets.

Match facts
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Start time 20:00 local (14:30 GMT)