IPL RCB vs DC Match Preview: A super contest with no predictable winner

This one between Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore is going to be a mouth-watering contest. Even if the usual expectations from an IPL game of an exciting match between equals are to go by.

Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers are meeting in Dubai tonight which can be easily described as the first game where it is impossible to predict a winner in advance because of the current form and strengths of the teams.

Both team have equal points so far and equal number of wins and incredibly both have also won a Super Over game each. And, whoever wins this contest will sit comfortably at the top until the Mumbai Indians wins another match.

Gradually improving vs suddenly improved

If DC has been showing the sign of improvements since 2019 edition, RCB has been a remarkably reformed side in the first fortnight of the new season.

This is best illustrated by the form of Delhi’s opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw who is now a part of Team India set-up while Bangalore’s Devdutt Padikkal has been a story of this IPL.

He has become the first player in IPL to register to 3 fifty-plus scores in first four matches. His strike rate in the powerplay overs nearly (150) is far superior than either of the DC openers.

“I think he’s complementing the other guys at the crease in terms of when he needs to go and when he doesn’t have to. He’s batting with the maturity beyond his years at the moment and it’s great to see that,” said Simon Katich, head coach RCB, in a video posted on team’s twitter handle.

Onus on No. 5 & 6

The top orders of both batting line up almost cancel out each other’s threat on a given day. However, it is the contribution of number 5 and 6 (Hetmyer- Stoinis vs Gurkeerat-Dube ) which is likely to prove decisive in a battle of equals.

South Africa vs. South Africa

And, if South African all-rounder Chris Morris makes it to the RCB playing XI for the first time, Kohli’s team will have a minor advantage as his death over (economy rate of 8.5) skill will lessen the pressure in a department which has been RCB’s perennial weakness.

“It’s going to be a good challenge. They have got a pretty good line-up, and have some big names. But, I think we have got a good team as well and the guys have been training really well,” admitted Delhi’s South African pace Anrich Nortje.

His new ball partner is also his South African mate Kagiso Rabada so they won’t be intimidated by the greatest South African AB de Villiers in the opposite camp. “If we just execute our skills, perform the way we have been, I think it’s going to be a very good game, and I’m sure we can out skill them,” added Nortje.

Before the 2019 IPL, if there was one team which Delhi Capitals was never excited to face, it was the original Delhi-boy led Kohli’s RCB as they had won a solitary game out of 15 since 2011. Then came the 2019 season where DC got over from the ghost of the past as they won both the encounters against RCB. So even if, the overall head-to-head record (just 8 wins in 23 meetings) favours Bangalore, none will be surprised if Capitals manage to win their third consecutive match against RCB.

Likely XI Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Devdutt Padikkal, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers (wk), 5 Gurkeerat Singh, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Isuru Udana, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Chris Morris, 10 Navdeep Saini, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Likely XI Delhi Capitals: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Harshal Patel, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Amit Mishra, 11 Anrich Nortje

(Vimal Kumar is a senior sports journalist who has covered multiple cricket world cups and Rio Olympics in the last two decades. Vimal is also the author of Sachin: Cricketer Of The Century and The Cricket Fanatic’s Essential Guide.)

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