Hitherto undefeated Delhi Waveriders will lock horns with equally strong but 5 points shorter in the points table team Ranchi Rhinos tomorrow.
For many these two outfits are billed for the Feb 10th final, but having played two matches each, and Delhi having won one and drawn the other, the curiosity is whether the home team can revenge the defeat when they met here last week.
That match was perhaps the best of the HIL which produced nine goals
The Rhinos now are keen to settle the score after having come close to an upset on Wednesday.
If the Rhinos manage to win Friday’s tie by at least a four goal margin then they can leapfrog the Waveriders in the standings on better goal-difference. However, given the display of their visitors’s wares, the local side will have to climb a mountain to achieve this.
The Rhinos strive on their home support and only the Waveriders have so far managed to breach their citadel. But that was before the hosts hit a purple patch in the competition.
Just like the Waveriders, the Rhinos have also been in exceptional form in their last four encounters and would take confidence from the fact that they could pressurise the league leaders on counter attacks.
Rhinos’ striker Mandeep Singh, second highest goal scorer with six field goals, is growing in stature. He will be keen to add to his tally and so would be their penalty corner specialist Ashley Jackson.
Coach Gregg Clark, said, “We played well yesterday and would look to repeat the same performance. We plan on improving certain aspects that we took back from yesterday’s game. We will definitely give them a tough challenge tomorrow”.
Coach Ajay Kumar Bansal said, “We plan to work on some quick passes and team coordination strategy for tomorrow’s match. We have a strong team and we plan to use that against them. Birendra Lakra is one of their game makers and we will look out for him.”