Thursday will see the Deccan Chargers play the Delhi DareDevils in the first match of the day
The Deccan Chargers are on a roll in this tournament, having won all their four matches so far. Delhi, on the other hand, had three of three till they exploded against a batting monster by the name of Yusuf Pathan and lost to Rajasthan Royals. A Delhi win in this game will mean that both Deccan and Delhi are equal on points at the top of the table.
Deccan have been doing right in all their three departments; batting, bowling and fielding. The top-order has all its bases covered with the batting of Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs and Rohit Sharma; all of whom look to be in the form of their life. With VVS Laxman yet to hit his straps, it seems pretty conceivable that he will have to sit out in this encounter, and this means that the role of Venugopal Rao will become even more important. Rao is not only a batsman, but also someone who can bowl a few overs, thus allowing the Sports Pundit IPL Fantasy users with a chance to earn some more points. 
Between Gibbs, Gilchrist and Sharma, I will definitely get in one, and the way things are it could very well be the latter given that it is his turn to score some runs now. Add that to the fact that he bowls part-time off-spinners on pitches that could afford a little turn, he seems doubly dangerous.
The bowling of Fidel Edwards has already caused a lot of heartache to the opposing batsmen, and his battle against Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir would be something to look forward. R.P. Singh’s form has caused enough problems, and again, I will need to make a choice from between the two. My preference will be for Edwards, simply because it has already been seen that bowlers with his pace and action – Lasith Malinga is the other one – have been found tough to handle and it could be no different this time around as well.
Delhi’s batting revolves around Sehwag and Gambhir, but the duo has failed to get going this time around. Instead, A.B. de Villiers has been the cornerstone of their success, with reasonable contributions from T. Dilshan. My guess is that one of the openers could be bought into the team, however, if the budget’s getting affected by this, then a Mithun Manhas can also be tried, who I think has a great chance to get some runs.
The bowling will revolve around the spinners in Amit Mishra and Daniel Vettori, but this may just be the time to discard Vettori for Glen McGrath if you are trailing and think you can take that risk! Amit Mishra should continue playing in the team and my sense is that he could also pick a bagful of wickets. Do get him in if possible!