CAPITALS LOOK TO SEAL PLAY OFF SPOT
DELHI CAPITALS : After a dominating performance in all three departments against the Sunrisers, the Capitals are now just a win away from booking their playoff spot.
Delhi started their second phase with an emphatic win over Hyderabad, where they certainly ticked all the boxes. The return of Nortje and their ex-captain Shreyas Iyer would’ve pleased them, especially as the South African pacer didn’t waste any time as he steamed in right from his opening spell. The first six balls that he bowled were the fastest six balls of this edition of the tournament. The pace duo of Rabada-Nortje are back and Iyer is also looking in fine touch. With both Dhawan and Pant firing, this team is one of the settled teams in this tournament. Of the two games that they’ve lost, one of them was against the Royals.
RAJASTHAN ROYALS : The Royals pulled of a heist out of nowhere against the Punjab Kings. So, they will be high on confidence. A victory would see them go past KKR in the points table and can even go past Bangalore based on net run rate.
Couple of days ago they somehow managed to grab those two points from Punjab courtesy some extraordinary death bowling from Tyagi and Mustafizur . But against the Capitals, they have to be at their very best to beat the table-toppers. For that, skipper Sanju Samson and their marquee player Chris Morris need to fire. Because both of them looked totally off colour in their previous game. Especially the 3 over spell by Morris was way below his standards where he struggled to land the ball in one place consistently. But still they would be quite happy with the fact that their young players like Jaiswal, Lomror and Tyagi rose to the occasion.
PITCH CONDITION : Out of the two games played here so far, the teams batting first have struggled to post a good total on the board largely because of some on target bowling by the Knight Riders. Even then, batting second looks really good. And the most important thing is there isn’t much dew, so spinners from both teams might be effective.
STATS AND FACTS :
- The head-to-head battle between these two teams is neck to neck with the Royals edging just ahead with 12-11. But in the last six games, it is the Capitals who are dominating with 5-1.
- Ajinkya Rahane has scored the most number of runs for a Rajasthan batsman against Delhi (601).
- Rishabh Pant has scored the most number of runs by a Delhi (active) batsman against Rajasthan (295).
- Amit Mishra has been the best bowler for Delhi with 20 wickets and Shane Watson for Rajasthan with 9 wickets.
PROBABLE PLAYING XI :
Barring Stoinis’s injury concern, no other changes are expected as both of them won their previous encounters.
DELHI CAPITALS : P Shaw, S Dhawan, S Iyer, R Pant (c & wk), M Stoinis / Steve Smith, S Hetmyer, A Patel, R Ashwin, K Rabada, A Nortje, A Khan .
RAJASTHAN ROYALS : E Lewis, Y Jaiswal, S Samson (c & wk), L Livingstone, M Lomror, R Parag, R Tewatia, C Morris, C Sakariya, K Tyagi, M Rahman.
FANTASY TEAM :
