Royal Challengers Bangalore will be desperate to get their first win of this 12th edition of the Indian Premier League as they host Delhi Capitals at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday.
Virat Kohli’s team are the only ones without a win so far in the tournament, with losses in their first five matches placing them firmly at the bottom of the points table. The Shreyas Iyer-led Delhi team are fifth, with two wins and three losses.
The five-wicket defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday must have been a bitter pill to swallow for RCB. The 2016 runners-up looked all set to get their first points but an Andre Russell special turned the match on it’s head right at the end.
RCB have to win almost all their remaining games to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.
On Friday, despite AB de Villiers and Kohli striking form by scoring 63 and 84 respectively, RCB bowlers failed to restrict KKR at the death. The defeat left the skipper frustrated, and the batting mainstay called it “unacceptable”. Russell walloped 29 runs in the penultimate over, which helped the visitors pull off a sensational victory.
Apart from Yuzvendra Chahal and Pawan Negi, all other RCB bowlers have not been among the wickets and conceded far too many runs, which Kohli admitted in the post-match presentation ceremony. Against KKR, they leaked 66 runs in the last four overs. Incidentally, the economy rates of RCB’s quick bowlers has steadily worsened in the last few years; in 2015 the overall economy rate of their quicks was 8.19, in 2016 it was 8.91, in 2017 it was 8.88 and in 2018 it was 9.01. So far in 2019, it is 9.32.
RCB’s batting has also been dismal. In their first match against Chennai Super Kings, RCB were bowled out for a paltry 70 in 17.1 overs after their top-order crumbled against Harbhajan Singh and Imran Tahir.
Against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the RCB bowlers allowed SRH to post a mammoth 232 with centuries from Jonny Bairstow and David Warner. RCB then collapsed to an embarrassing 35 for six by the eighth over, with Kohli and de Villiers contributing just four runs between them. In the end, they were skittled out for 113 to lose the match by a massive 118 runs.
Against Rajasthan Royals, too, the RCB top-order failed. Their think-tank would now be hoping that their top-order batsmen come out good against DC. In some good news for them, Kohli has scored more runs against the Delhi Capitals than against any other IPL opponent; he has scored 761 runs in 18 innings at an average of 69.18. And the same goes for de Villiers too; he has scored 396 runs in 9 innings, has an average of 79.20, and a strike-rate of 174.44. In his two innings last season, he scored 90* (39 balls) in Bengaluru, and followed it up with 72* (37 balls) in Delhi.
Delhi struggling as well
Delhi also have their fair share of worries, having lost three matches. After making a positive start with a win against three-time champions Mumbai Indians, their journey has been uncomfortable.
Rishabh Pant, who played a superb knock of 78 against Mumbai in their first match, has been the highest scorer for Delhi, while the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Iyer and Colin Ingram, too, have been among the runs. But consistency has been a major area of concern across their batting order. For Delhi, Pant would like to come good at a venue that could aid his style of batting. Pant’s scores against RCB read: 1, 57, 45, 85 and 61.
There has been a controversy brewing over the nature of the pitch at Feroz Shah Kotla not aiding the strengths of the home side but away from home, much like in the first game against MI, Delhi would love to capitalise on the flat batting track. And the track at Chinnaswamy Stadium could just provide their batsmen the freedom to express themselves.
The bowling department has been spearheaded by Kagiso Rabada, and they also have Trent Boult and Ishant Sharma in their ranks. Young leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane has also performed well so far for Delhi.
Head to Head in IPL
Overall matches: 21, Royal Challengers Bangalore: 14, Delhi Capitals: 6 (No Result: 1)
Matches since 2011: Royal Challengers Bangalore: 13, Delhi Capitals: 1 (No Result: 1)
Squads
Royal Challengers Bengalore: Virat Kohli (capt), Parthiv Patel, AB de Villiers, Colin de Grandhomme, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Moeen Ali, Shimron Hetmyer, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Devdutt Padikkal, Himmat Singh, Milind Kumar, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Heinrich Klaasen, Pawan Negi, Washington Sundar, Akshdeep Nath, Prayas Barman, Kulwant Khejroliya, Tim Southee.
Delhi Capitals: Shreyas Iyer (capt), Colin Munro, Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Hanuma Vihari, Colin Ingram, Manjot Kalra, Chris Morris, Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Axar Patel, Jalaj Saxena, Rahul Tewatia, Rishabh Pant, Ankush Bains, Sandeep Lamichhane, Avesh Khan Harshal Patel, Trent Boult, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Nathu Singh and Bandaru Ayyappa.
[Inputs from PTI and iplt20.com]
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