Team News: Delhi Capitals
The Rishabh Pant-led Delhi side has secured three back-to-back wins and displaced RCB to the third spot in the points table with their win against SRH in the Super Over. DC have won four of their five contests in the tournament so far and are placed at second after CSK.
The emphatic performances against Punjab, Mumbai and Hyderabad would have further emboldened the side. Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant have been doing the bulk of the scoring for the franchise, but Prithvi Shaw and Steve Smith's return in form against SRH would bring more stability in their batting order.
Shaw hit a match-winning fifty against Hyderabad and also gave his team a good start at the top. The team would be looking for another such show from the talented right-handed opener. Dhawan has been the leading run-scorer in the tournament so far and the southpaw would be aiming to score big against RCB in their next match.
Marcus Stoinis and Axar Patel will be key all-rounders for the side and their roles with the bat, as well as with the ball, will be crucial for Delhi's success. Against SRH, Axar played his first game of the season and made an immediate impact as he picked up a couple of wickets and also bowled the Super Over, conceding just 6 from it. Amit Mishra will be the main spinner for the side and his role gets important in the absence of his spin partner R Ashwin.
Pace battery will be led by Kagiso Rabada and young Avesh Khan would be looking to showcase his skills against the side led by the India captain and present his case for his national call up.
It will be interesting to see whom does coach Ricky Ponting include in the playing eleven in the absence of Ashwin. The DC think tank must be discussing whether they should go with an extra batsman or include a bowler in the side against RCB.
Team News: Royal Challengers Bangalore
Captain Kohli would be looking to forget the hammering at the hands of Chennai Super Kings in their last game. RCB must consider it as an off day and look to come back strongly in their next game for they didn't do much wrong against CSK. It was just Ravindra Jadeja's brilliance with bat and ball that cost RCB at Wankhede.
Despite the defeat, there were plenty of positives for RCB against CSK in Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar and Harshal Patel. Except for that costly 20th over bowled by Patel, which leaked 37 runs, RCB had things under control.
Be it spinners or pacers, RCB bowlers have been performing well in the league and would be aiming to come back strongly against Delhi Capitals. They would be looking to once again bowl disciplined lines and trouble the opposition batsmen. Once again all eyes will be on the slower ones bowled by Harshal and Mohammed Siraj's toe-crushing yorkers.
Siraj has been a revelation in this tournament and has been impressing everyone with an improved show. The right-arm quick would be aiming to rattle in-form Delhi Capitals' top-order and make early inroads for his team.
Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar's performance will also be key against Delhi for the latter are also good against spin.
In the batting department, the focus will once again be on Padikkal, captain Kohli, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell. Their batting didn't fire against CSK but it will be a new day and a different venue on Tuesday.
Playing XIs:
DC: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Steven Smith, Rishabh Pant (c) (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav/Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan.
RCB: Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (c), Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers (wk), Washington Sundar, Daniel Christian, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Dream11 Top picks of the match:
Batsmen: Shikhar Dhawan, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Prithvi Shaw.
Wicketkeeper: AB de Villiers.
All-rounders: Glenn Maxwell, Axar Patel.
Bowlers: Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Captain: Devdutt Padikkal.
Vice-Captain: Shikhar Dhawan.