Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore face each in Delhi home. This venue witnessed a classic of a last match where the home team DD faced KXIP and triumphed. RCB didn’t perform any less in their last game. Gayle powered RCB clinched a game against KKR with confidence.
Both these teams something in common which was both were down on loosing streak. If DD were down with just 1 win, RCB were not too less with one win and 1 abandoned match.They came back strong and won their respective matches against tough opponents and that too with big margins. If RCB was inspired by Gayle to a 9 wicket win by a blistering knock of 102 (52), Delhi Daredevils were resurrected strongly by Virender Sehwag 77(38) and David Warner 77 (45).
This rightly make s us await for this magnificent encounter filled with match winners. The other day it was Gayle for RCB while Warner and Sehwag combined effort for DD. But this isn’t all !! RCB has one more match winner who is yet to fire in Sri Lankan captain Dilshan. Now that he is set leave IPL early, he would want fire against his Ex-team as Gayle did against his.
Pitch: A usual low slow Kotla pitch behaved too differently and we saw a marathon of 433 runs score in the previous game. Though we would witness some early seam movement like ball should continue to come on to the bat nicely. Gayle must be really looking foreword to the six hitting entertainment which he promised he will continue to in post match chat. It will be cake-walk for big west-indian clearing the small boundary. So will it be for double trouble David-Warner. Further Dil-scope will only get easier in such conditions.
Delhi Darevils: DD’s campaign however has been far from impressive looking at the overall performance. In spite of a big win they are 9th in points table with NRR almost equaling DC. Too much dependence of openers for a good start has proved fatal. With a good start Delhi has hitters like Naman Ojha and Venu Rao to finish or take it forward. A Finch needs to find his form for strengthening the middle order. Sunny Singh is looking out of sorts. It l be curious if they will come up with a replacement. But with the inspiration of win on a strong team, they should come together as team.
Bowling Department which hasn’t been impressive other than Morne Morkel find some hope in name of James Hopes in last match vs Kings XI. This medium pacer chipped in with wickets at crucial time.Irfan Pathan if not with the bat hasn’t at least delivered with the ball till last match. In spite of coach’s heavy words told before the last match that he would comeback strong, Pathan wasn’t exceptional in last match. Though he got the initial important wicket of Valthay, he was hit out later in the match in a match that was six hitting contest. Varun Aaron who was hyped before his debut took crucial wickets only after getting hit out of the park quite much. His spell invokes curiosity we look at the consistency of line and length in this young player. The fact that he is currently the only Indian bowler who can bowl above speeds of 150 kmph adds to it.
Bangalore Royal Challengers: RCB who started as one of favorites in this edition could not get along after the initial win. Their batting line-up which already looks very strong on paper has been revamped strongly by inclusion of Gayle. Dilshan who hasn’t exploded yet played an supportive innings of 38 (31) last game. It is the consistency which hold’s the key as all RCB batsman look to be in form. They haven’t yet all together performed as either Devilries or Kohli or Gayle took main charge individually in different matches. This solid batting line has the depth and is capable of making the highest ever total in IPL. Saurabh Tiwary off course needs to make big contribution yet as he consistently used to do it for Mumbai
Bowling has off course been a weak link in RCB. Though much power Gayle added strength to batting which happened only at the expense of a Brilliant Ex-delhi injured bowler Dirk Nannes. With Zaheer khan getting hit over 50 runs in couple of matches they are in dire need of good pacer. Zaheer who is a fighter would look to comeback strongly and find his world cup form. Domestic bowlers has been giving their decent support for team but it is on Daniel Vettori bowling attack has been mostly relying on. Economical he will be but It will be important so has to how successful he will be in talking wickets of his Ex-dehi explosive batsman.
Bangalore team which has always looked strong on paper if plays to the full potential will be tough to handle for Delhi Daredevils. On the other hand Delhi also has big match winner who on their day can be just too hot handle. My pick will be Dilshan and Irfan Pathan today. Both of these players’s performances will make the difference as I expect.
Its 60-40 for RCB –DD. For you ?
RCB (Playing XI):D Vettori(C), C Gayle, T Dilshan, V Kohli, AB de Villiers, S Tiwary, C Pujara, Z Khan, S Aravind, S M Jamaluddin, A Mithun
DD (Playing XI):V Sehwag(C), D Warner, N Ojha, V Rao, Y Nagar, J Hopes, I Pathan, M Wade, U Yadav, M Morkel, A Dinda
RCB have 6 Ex Delhi Players !! Seriously teams exchanged
Delhi Daredevils 6 for no loss after 1 over (David Warner 0*, Virender Sehwag 5*)
Delhi Daredevils 16-0 after 2 overs (David Warner 0*, Virender Sehwag 15*)
Delhi Daredevils 42 for 1 after 6 overs (Virender Sehwag 24*, James Hopes 8*). Last Wkt : D Warner b Zaheer 7(11)
OUT!!! RUN OUT ! Sehwag departs ! Run out (Mithun) on 25. Big wicket for RCB ! DD 2 wickets down
