Overview:
It's been nearly 5 weeks since the 16th edition of IPL started. We've seen some exceptional cricket being played already. This one promises to be nothing different. Royal Challengers Bangalore will take on Delhi Capitals in the 50th match of the season. These two sides had faced each other earlier in the tournament in Bangalore. In a one-sided encounter, RCB beat DC by 23 runs. In Delhi, DC would be looking to reverse the results.
RCB have won 5 matches and DC have won 3 matches in the 9 matches they've played so far in the tournament. RCB would be looking forward to doing the good work to approach closer to a playoff spot. They would want their lower middle order batters to step up big time. Delhi Capitals with the home crowd behind them and winning momentum, can also perform well and continue the winning momentum. That promises to be an exciting game of cricket for the fans.
Preview:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: A win against Lucknow Supergiants would give them huge confidence going in against DC. Faf Du Plessis returned back as the captain for them after recovering from the injury which gave RCB dugout a huge boost of confidence. The top order batting of RCB has been great till now. 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, Anuj Rawat and Dinesh Karthik have to fire with the bat.
The return of Josh Hazlewood would be a huge boost for them. RCB lacked a death bowler to accompany Siraj and Harshal. Now he can bowl in both powerplay and death overs. Harshal can concentrate on bowling in middle overs. They also have the part time options like Glenn Maxwell and Mahipal Lomror who could bowl some overs. They can play Vijaykumar Vyshak or Karn Sharma according to the conditions. Siraj would play a key role for them again. Their bowling looks almost settled.
Delhi Capitals: In the last three or four games, they've found some ray of hope. Prithvi Shaw's bad form has forced them to play Phil Salt. David Warner needs to fire with the bat. They've tried a lot of batters, but the middle order still looks vulnerable. The likes of Mitchell Marsh, Manish Pandey, Sarfaraz Khan, Rovman Powell, and Lalit Yadav haven't performed to their best abilities. They rely heavily on Axar Patel to finish things for them. They would definitely want the middle order to step up for them, before it gets a bit too late for them.
Their bowling attack looks good though. Anrich Nortje is looking good, especially in the death overs. Addition of Ishant Sharma has surely brought a new look to the attack. Kuldeep Yadav has been picking wickets. Axar Patel has done the holding up job well. Lately, he's picking wickets too. Mukesh Kumar has done a good job as the death bowler. Especially in his previous outing against SRH, he won this match nearly by himself. They can play either Mukesh or Khaleel based on the requirement. Bowling clearly looks like their strength.
Probable Playing Xis:
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Faf Du Plessis (C), Virat Kohli, Anuj Rawat, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Wanindu Hasaranga, Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Josh Hazlewood, Mohammed Siraj
Delhi Capitals:
David Warner (C), Phil Salt (WK), Manish Pandey, Rilee Rossouw, Sarfaraz Khan, Axar Patel, Ripal Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma
Interesting Facts:
- Head to Head: Both the teams have faced each other 30 times in the IPL. RCB have won 19 of them. DC has managed to win 10 times. The other game ended with no result.
- Faf Du Plessis is just 1 boundary away from completing 350 fours in IPL.
- Virat Kohli is just 12 runs away from becoming the first batter ever to complete 7000 IPL runs.
- Dinesh Karthik is just 25 runs away from completing 4500 IPL runs.
- Wanindu Hasaranga will be playing his 25th IPL game.
- With 466 runs in 9 innings, Faf Du Plessis is currently the orange cap holder of the season.
- Mohammad Siraj needs 2 wickets to become the purple cap holder momentarily.
- Faf Du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell lead the chart of top 2 six hitters of the season (28 and 23 sixes) respectively.
Pitch/Weather Report:
The match will be played in Arun Jaitley stadium, Delhi. It's been a good surface till now. It has been supportive for all. There's of course the early swing on offer. Interestingly, there has been some extra bounce for the pacers. Spinners can get some purchase from the surface. Skilled batters can counter the bowlers and score runs.
It's a very small ground. The square boundaries are very short and so are the longer boundaries. The venue hasn't seen a high scoring game in the ongoing season till now. One can expect another medium scoring game. The teams winning the toss would love to bowl first and put the pressure on the opposition.
Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.
Date and Time: 6th May 2023, Saturday, 7:30 PM (IST).
Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and Jio Cinema.
Dream 11 team:
