Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore are both expected to go all out against each other on Monday in Abu Dhabi to arrest their rapid slide in the Indian Premier League and, more importantly, secure a top-two finish in the points table.

DC and RCB go into the all-important clash, having lost four and three games on the trot respectively, showing that things can change rather quickly in the highly-competitive IPL.

At stake is a top-two finish which provides a couple of attempts to make it to the final. The loser of Monday’s game could still end up making the playoffs but as long as the margin of defeat is not significant (or Sunrisers lose their final match).

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IPL 2020 playoffs qualification scenarios: DC or RCB could still be eliminated; SRH control own fate

Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and the importance of peaking at right time

DC, who were bossing most teams in the first half of the tournament, have had a dramatic fall with their last win coming two weeks ago. Their batsmen have come a cropper since then and the bowling doesn’t look as potent as it was in the first half.

Indian Premier League 2020 Points Table

Problems started with DC unable to find a stable combination at the top of the order. Both Prithvi Shaw and Ajinkya Rahane have been paired up with Shikhar Dhawan but neither of them has provided the much-needed consistency.

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In fact, Dhawan, who was flying high with back-to-back hundreds, has managed 6, 0, 0 in the last three games. The Delhi-based team had banked on the big-hitting from Rishabh Pant in the middle-order but with 274 runs at a strike-rate of 112.29, he has been far from his best.

DC's results in IPL 2020

Match Day/Date/Time Venue Result Total points
DC vs KXIP 20 Sep, Sun (1930) Dubai DC won Super Over after match was tied 2
CSK vs DC 25 Sep, Fri (1930) Dubai DC won by 44 runs 4
DC vs SRH 29 Sep, Tue (1930) Abu Dhabi DC lost by 15 runs 4
DC vs KKR 3 Oct, Sat (1930) Sharjah DC won by 18 runs 6
RCB vs DC 5 Oct, Mon (1930) Dubai DC won by 59 runs 8
RR vs DC 9 Oct, Fri (1930) Sharjah DC won by 46 runs 10
MI vs DC 11 Oct, Sun (1930) Abu Dhabi DC lost by 5 wickets 10
DC vs RR 14 Oct, Wed (1930) Dubai DC won by 13 runs 12
DC vs CSK 17 Oct, Sat (1930) Sharjah DC won by 5 wickets 14
KXIP vs DC 20 Oct, Tue (1930) Dubai DC lost by 5 wickets 14
KKR vs DC 24 Oct, Sat (1530) Abu Dhabi DC lost by 59 runs 14
SRH vs DC 27 Oct, Tue (1930) Dubai DC lost by 88 runs 14
DC vs MI 31 Oct, Sat (1530) Dubai DC lost by 9 wickets 14

RCB's results in IPL 2020

Match Day/Date/Time Venue Result Total points for season
SRH vs RCB 21 Sep, Mon (1930) Dubai RCB won by 10 runs 2
KXIP vs RCB 24 Sep, Thu (1930) Dubai RCB lost by 97 runs 2
RCB vs MI 28 Sep, Mon (1930) Dubai RCB won Super Over after a tied match 4
RCB vs RR 3 Oct, Sat (1530) Abu Dhabi RCB won by 8 wickets 6
RCB vs DC 5 Oct, Mon (1930) Dubai RCB lost by 59 runs 6
CSK vs RCB 10 Oct, Sat (1930) Dubai RCB won by 37 runs 8
RCB vs KKR 12 Oct, Mon (1930) Sharjah RCB won by 82 runs 10
RCB vs KXIP 15 Oct, Thu (1930) Sharjah RCB lost by 8 wickets 10
RR vs RCB 17 Oct, Sat (1530) Dubai RCB won by 7 wickets 12
KKR vs RCB 21 Oct, Wed (1930) Abu Dhabi RCB won by 8 wickets 14
RCB vs CSK 25 Oct, Sun (1530) Dubai RCB lost by 8 wickets 14
MI vs RCB 28 Oct, Wed (1930) Abu Dhabi RCB lost by 5 wickets 14
RCB vs SRH 31 Oct, Sun (1930) Sharjah RCB lost by 5 wickets 14

After a nine-wicket hammering against Mumbai Indians on Saturday, skipper Shreyas Iyer spoke on the need for a fearless approach.

“We’ll have to think about it (changes to the line-up) and be fearless in our approach. We’ll keep things simple and will not try to think much,” he had said.

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RCB too are smarting from a string of losses, most recently against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday. The three losses on the trot have reignited the debate on the team’s dependency on star players Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.

Both Kohli and de Villiers didn’t fire in the last two games, resulting in heavy defeats. Josh Phillippe has shown promise at the top of the order after replacing Aaron Finch but needs to convert starts into substantial scores.

As the weather gets cooler in the UAE, dew is proving to be a major factor. Considering the prevailing conditions, teams are opting to field with dew making batting much easier in the second half of the game. It was something that was acknowledged by Kohli after RCB’s loss to SRH. And it could play a significant part in the blockbuster clash on Monday.

Head-to-head

Mat DC wins RCB wins NR
DC vs RCB 24 9 14 1

DC squad

Batsmen Bowlers All-rounders Wicketkeepers
Shreyas Iyer Ishant Sharma Axar Patel Rishabh Pant
Prithvi Shaw Amit Mishra Harshal Patel Alex Carey
Shikhar Dhawan Avesh Khan R Ashwin
Ajinkya Rahane Sandeep Lamichhane Lalit Yadav
Shimron Hetmyer Kagiso Rabada Marcus Stoinis
Keemo Paul Daniel Sams
Mohit Sharma
Tushar Deshpande
Anrich Nortje

RCB squad

Batsmen Bowlers All-rounders Wicketkeeper
Virat Kohli Yuzvendra Chahal Moeen Ali Parthiv Patel
AB de Villiers Mohammed Siraj Pawan Negi Shahbaz Ahmed
Gurkeerat Mann Umesh Yadav Shivam Dube Joshua Philippe
Devdutt Padikkal Navdeep Saini Washington Sundar
Aaron Finch Adam Zampa Christopher Morris
Dale Steyn Isuru Udana
Pavan Deshpande

Match starts at 7.30 pm IST and will be broadcast on the Star Sports network and Disney+Hotstar

With PTI inputs