Struggling to stay in the play-off hunt, a below-par Royal Challengers Bangalore will have rise to the occasion when they take on the bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.
RCB, who have just three wins from 10 games, have to win their remaining four games to have any chance of making the play-offs. Given their ordinary run so far in the IPL, RCB don’t evoke much hope.
Skipper Virat Kohli had minced no words after their last game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, saying they were simply not good enough and even questioned the character of his team.
They take on Delhi, a squad that is already down and out after losing to Sunrisers on Thursday all but confirming their early exit from the competition. Even a special effort from Rishabh Pant did not prove to be enough for the hosts.
The team has always relied heavily on Kohli and AB de Villiers but it is high time the likes of Mandeep Singh, Quinton de Kock and Brendon McCullum deliver.
All-rounder Washington Sundar has been disappointing so far, taking just four wickets in seven games at an average of 48 and economy rate of 9.60. With the bat too, he has done not much to write home about.
The RCB have done alright lately with the ball and they would hoping to maintain that at the high-scoring Kotla. Pacers Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Siraj have impressed in parts.
Kohli looked relaxed ahead of the must-win game as he went out for dinner with teammates in his home city. On the field today, he will be wanting nothing less than 100 percent from his under-performing unit.
Delhi’s bowling coach James Hopes and captain Shreyas Iyer insisted that there is a lot to play for. There is a possibility that Delhi management might give an opportunity to Nepal spinner Sandeep Lamichhane and South African pacer Junior Dala, who both are yet to get a game.
“I think we will be discussing the names of all people in the squad in the next 24 hours,” said Hopes.
Analysing Delhi’s another sorry campaign, Hopes added: “We were just not able to win close games. We threw it away against KXIP the other day. There were other games too which we should have won.”
“We had to work with depleted bowling resources (after injury to Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris) but that is part of the game,” he added.
At Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi
Time: 8 pm
Head to Head
Overall: Matches: 20, DD won: 6, RCB won: 13, No Result: 1.
In Delhi: Matches: 7, DD won: 2, RCB won: 5.
Stats and Trivia
Kohli has an average of 83.75 in IPL matches at the Feroz Shah Kotla. He has smashed four half-centuries in the last five IPL games played at the venue.
RCB have beaten DD in their last five encounters with each other. In fact, Kohli’s men have emerged victorious 12 times in the last 14 matches played between the two sides.
Quote
“We have just not been able to win close games. We threw it away against KXIP the other day. There were other games too which we should have won.”
— - Delhi Daredevils bowling coach James Hopes
Squads
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), Quinton de Kock, Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Siraj, Corey Anderson, Parthiv Patel, Tim Southee.
Delhi Daredevils: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Rishabh Pant, Glenn Maxwell, Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Colin Munro, Mohammed Shami, Amit Mishra, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Daniel Christian, Jayant Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Trent Boult, Manjot Kalra, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane, Naman Ojha, Sayan Ghosh, Liam Plunkett, Junior Dala.
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