RCB did start their tournament on a winning note. They beat MI pretty comfortably without major hiccups. But they lost badly against KKR and looked clueless in the second half of their bowling against LSG. On the other hand, DC have lost most of their games without troubling the opponents much. They had a big loss against LSG to start the season. GT chased down the target comfortably in the second match. DC never looked to be in the game against RR. Though they made the match interesting against MI, it was pretty one-sided for most part. A win would be the result both the teams would be looking forward to.
Preview:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: After comfortably beating Mumbai Indians in their first home game, RCB couldn't conquer Kolkata. They came back to their home ground and lost a close game against LSG. They would be morally a bit down. But they have a very good lineup. The top 3 of Virat Kohli, Faf Du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell look very good. They would like to get their middle order in action for them. The likes of Mahipal Lomror, Shahbaz Ahmed and Dinesh Karthik have to fire with the bat.
The return of Wanindu Hasaranga would be a huge boost for them. RCB lost both their games in between the overs 12 to 16. They couldn't break a crucial partnership in both those games. Wanindu Hasaranga would just be the right man to do the job for them. Death bowling is a concern too. Harshal Patel going for runs hasn't helped them. Siraj would play a key role for them again. Otherwise, their bowling has been very good in powerplay overs.
Delhi Capitals: So far, nothing seems to be working for them. Prithvi Shaw's bad form has added pressure on Warner, which is leading to lack of intent from him. They've tried a lot of batters in the middle order like Mitchell Marsh, Rilee Rossouw, Manish Pandey, Abishek Porel, Yash Dhull, Sarfaraz Khan, Rovman Powell, and Lalit Yadav. But none have played a knock of any significance. They rely heavily on Axar Patel to add some runs for them. They would definitely want the middle order to step up for them, before it gets a bit too late for them.
They haven't got that good bowling attack either. Anrich Nortje is trying his best. But Kuldeep Yadav is not able to pick wickets. Chetan Sakariya, Mukesh Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman, and Khaleel Ahmed seem off-color too. Axar Patel has done the holding up job well. But except that, others haven't been up to the mark. The bowlers of DC have to really step up too. The management can't ask a single bowler to do the entire job for them.
Probable XIII (including Impact Players):
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf Du Plessis (C), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Wanindu Hasaranga, Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, David Willey, Mohammed Siraj (Impact Players: Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Suyash Prabhudesai, M Bracewell, Sonu Yadav)
Delhi Capitals: David Warner (C), Prithvi Shaw, Manish Pandey, Yash Dhull, Lalit Yadav, Rovman Powell, Axar Patel, Abishek Porel (WK), Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman (Impact Players: Aman Hakim Khan, Sarfraz Khan, Praveen Dubey, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar)
Interesting Facts:
- Head to Head: Both the teams have faced each other 29 times in the IPL. RCB have won 18 of them. DC has managed to win 10 times. The other game ended with no result.
- Prithvi Shaw is just 2 boundaries away from completing 200 fours in IPL.
- Nicholas Pooran will be playing his 50th IPL game and is just 20 runs away from completing 1000 IPL runs.
- Glenn Maxwell is just 6 sixes away from becoming only the fourth RCB batter to hit 50 IPL sixes.
- Mustafizur Rahman needs just 3 wickets to complete 50 IPL wickets.
- Anrich Nortje needs 5 wickets to complete 50 IPL wickets.
- Virat Kohli, David Warner and Faf Du Plessis are all in the race for orange cap. They need 70, 25 and 59 runs respectively to momentarily gain the orange cap.
- Faf Du Plessis needs just 2 more sixes to lead the chart of the six hitters of the season.
- David Willey has the best economy for a bowler in the season (With a minimum of 2 appearances).
Pitch/Weather Report:
The match will be played at M Chinnaswamy stadium, Bengaluru. In the ongoing season till now, it has been a good batting surface. With no rain in the city over the last few days, one can expect a proper cricket match. It'll be hot during the afternoon, as it's a day game. In the evening, the temperatures would go down.
Since it's a day game, the wicket would most likely be good for batting throughout. During the second innings, the spinners might get some assistance. So, the team winning the toss would like to bat first and put a big score on the board. One can expect a high scoring game from the venue.
Venue: Sri M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
Date and Time: 15th Apr 2023, Saturday, 3:30 PM (IST).
Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and Jio Cinema.
Dream 11 team:
