Both teams have lost their last few games and lost some of their key players through injury. They will look at this game as the platform to come back and push for a playoff spot.
Warner’s men visit the Chinnaswamy in a day game where both sides have addressed some of their issues but still have glaring holes in their squads. DC lost a close game to the Mumbai Indians where Axar’s inning proves to be a huge positive as the handy all-rounder took the Mumbai bowlers to all parts of the ground while David Warner also hit a 50 but will be hoping to up the strike rate in the future knows as they posted a par total which MI chased with the help of some clinical finishing and good innings by Rohit.
RCB got off to a flier once again as Maxwell was back amongst the runs after his freak injury. Siraj is bringing back the form that he had while playing India with Hasaranga set to come back as the star leg spinner will look to fix RCB’s middle over issues
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Royal Challengers Bangalore
The openers once again fired for RCB. Faf and Virat took the game on with each of them targeting different bowlers and following different paths. Kohli played some crisp drives against Avesh and took apart Wood’s high pace while Faf made up for his slow start with some big hits in the latter half of the game. The biggest positive would be in how they dealt with Krunal Pandya. Left-arm spinners often slow down the run rate and have been their middle-order maestros’ biggest weakness. Virat was the main run-getter against Krunal as he took advantage of the field placements and played along the ground to get runs. This is a huge positive as the squad has the game to on the leg spinners( Maxi and Indian batsmen in Suyash/Lomror/Anuj) and their veterans are good players of pace( Kohli, Faf and DK) essentially opening the floodgates to yet another big score. Maxwell looked rusty at first but soon played some good shots as he manipulated the field using raw power and his wrist work.
With only 4 batsmen playing a part, we don’t know if RCB has picked the correct Indian middle-order batsmen. Backing Rawat as of now, he would have to take on a different and tough role of taking on the spinners and his success will decide the freedom the pillars of this batting lineup would get. RCB will walk in again with a small tail and their usage of Hasaranga who is a competent batter but is yet to yield dividends as a batter for RCB will be interesting.
Siraj and Willey/Parnell got the ball to swing up front and had done a commendable job by taking key wickets on a wicket which was on the flatter side despite the harsh field restrictions.
With Wanindu coming back in, RCB will have a wicket-taker in the middle overs and this should lead to more opportunities for Shahbaz and Maxwell the bowlers as they often look to bowl based on matchups and to keep the economy low. Death bowling is once again an issue but I believe that Harshal Patel can solve these problems. Despite having a rough few months, he still has the guile while bowling with his clever use of variations which should start working soon enough. RCB might look into bringing Akash Deep as a middle-over enforcer with his high pace and becomes another pace bowling option.
Delhi Capitals
Warner will be happy to bat in Bengaluru where runs will be easier to get. Despite getting some runs under his belt, the strike rate at which he has scored those runs has massively reduced the impact that his runs have. Their batting order has been failing so far and will have to promote Axar if they want to see a change in fortunes. With Marsh back at 3, the onus will be on Powell and Porel to help provide the finishing touch to post a high total on this surface.
DC have the batsmen to score high scores but bad execution and questionable batting order will make it an uphill task for them. Their fans will hope that Warner can continue scoring his runs at a much higher strike rate.
With Mukesh Kumar having taken to the cleaners, DC might look for a better option to replace him on their roster. The duo of Khaleel and Mustafizur give a good amount of control and their left-arm angle will trouble the RCB batsmen. In a day game where they might not see too much movement, their discipline and the variations of Fizz will be key to keeping the RCB batsmen at bay. Their spin bowling is their main strength. Axar has the ability to bowl at any point of the game and Kuldeep is able to extract spin from any surface. This duo along with Lalit will look to choke the RCB batsmen in the middle overs putting more pressure on the batsmen to take on the Delhi pacers. One spot for concern is the high number of left-arm bowlers while bowling in the death overs. With the balls more likely to fall into the arc of the batsmen, a left-armer like Khaleel and Mustafizur. They will have to be cautious while bowling to Dinesh Karthik who took apart Mustafizur last year and many other left-arm pacers in the death overs.
Probable Playing XI
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey/Wayne Parnell, Harshal Patel, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj
Delhi Capitals: David Warner (c), Prithvi Shaw, Manish Pandey, Mitchell Marsh, Rovman Powell, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Abhishek Porel (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed
Key Matchups
Faf du Plessis vs Anrich Nortje: Runs – 33, Balls – 26, Dismissals – 2
Glenn Maxwell vs Kuldeep Yadav: Runs – 59, Balls – 21, Dismissals – 3
David Warner vs Harshal Patel: Runs – 86, Balls – 44, Dismissals – 0
David Warner vs Mohammed Siraj: Runs – 42, Balls – 23, Dismissals – 1
Prithvi Shaw vs Mohammed Siraj: Runs – 41, Balls – 27, Dismissals – 3
Rovman Powell vs Wanindu Hasaranga: Runs – 41, Balls – 19, Dismissals – 0
RCB vs DC Dream11 Team
Note: This is not our final Dream11 Team as we are not aware of the Toss Result/Final Playing XI of both teams at this moment.
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