New Delhi: Colors Delhi Sultans might have lost their first encounter against Jaipur Ninjas, but their captain and Indian Olympic star Sakshi Malik is in a good nick. She overpowered Pooja Dhanda with a big margin and is expected to perform similarly in her Super Sunday encounter against NCR Punjab Royals Manju Kumari.

Delhi’s key player Bajrang Punia was blocked by Jaipur in the first match and it cost them dearly. This time, Bajrang will be facing tough opponent in form of London Olympic gold medalist and Rio silver medalist Togrul Asgarov. In the 57kg category, Punjab have high hopes from Olympic and World champion Vladimir Khinchegashvili, who have been quite impressive so far.

With Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroye of Nigeria in 53kg, they have ample strength in every category. Meanwhile, if Delhi needs to register their first victory, they must hope to win the toss and expect Praveen Rana (74kg) and Satyavrat Kadian (97kg) to win their respective bouts. Praveen will face Jitendra while Satyavrat will take on Krishna Kumar. Also, David Tlashadze, who had lost his first bout to Vinod, must come back and defeat Pankaj Rana in the 70kg. This win can turn out to be a major boost for Delhi team.

Delhi co-owner Anurag Batra and Gaur Gupta believe that Delhi lost the first encounter with narrow margin and are expecting better performance in the next game.

“With just Indian grapplers in the fray, the excitement and thrill will be at its peak,” they said.

On the other hand, Punjab co-onwer Dharampal is confident about his team’s victory.

“We are going to win this encounter for sure. The only question is how big this win will be,” he said.