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Royal Challengers and Delhi Daredevils, desperate for a victory under their belt, will try to outdo each other in Saturday’s Indian Premier League match in Bengaluru.
The two teams find themselves at the bottom of the points table with just a victory each from four matches.
Both go into Saturday’s crucial match after losing to Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively.
The Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers started its campaign on a losing note to against Kolkata Knight Riders, but bounced back in the next match against Kings XI Punjab at home, before losing the next two matches against Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians.
They must tighten-up their bowling, having conceded 200-plus runs in the previous two games at home. The spin duo of Yuzuvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar have gone for runs and will be itching to put up a better show.
It will be a challenge for them against Delhi, who have world-class batsmen, including Jason Roy, Gautam Gambhir, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Glenn Maxwell.
On the brighter side, Kohli's return to form with a quickfire 57 and an unbeaten 92 against Royals and Mumbai has boosted Royal Challengers’s confidence.
Kohli, who had opened the innings against Mumbai, slammed four sixes and seven fours in his unbeaten knock, but none of his batting colleagues gave him support.
The next best came from his partner Quinton de Kock, who scored 19 from 12 balls.
South African AB de Villiers, who has scored 122 runs so far, would like to get a big knock under his belt.
Brendon McCullum, who has just 47 runs in three matches, could lose his place to reputed English batsman Moeen Ali, who can bolster the bowling attack with his off-spin.
On the other hand, the Gambhir-led Delhi would like to forget their previous defeat at KKR's hands.
Delhi lost to Punjab in their opener and then to Royals in a rain-hit match, but bounced back in style against Mumbai, with Roy smashing an unbeaten 91.
India speedster Mohammed Shami is all set to join the team after the Kolkata Police allowed him to do so following a three-hour interrogation.
The speedster is accused of infidelity and domestic violence by his wife.
Delhi's batsmen also have not come out all guns blazing. Pant is the highest run-getter for them, scoring 138, with 47 being his highest.
Maxwell, who scored 47 in the last match, would also like to continue with his form.
Roy would like to show his prowess against RCB too as the Englishman had smashed a career best 91 to pull off a tricky last-ball victory against Mumbai.
Teams:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli(captain), Quinton de Kock(wicketkeeper), Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Manan Vohra, Aniket Choudhary, Navdeep Saini, Murugan Ashwin, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Siraj, Corey Anderson, Parthiv Patel, Aniruddha Joshi, Pavan Deshpande, Tim Southee.
Delhi Daredevils: Gautam Gambhir (captain), Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Chris Morris, Glenn Maxwell, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammad Shami, Trent Boult, Colin Munro, Daniel Christian, Jason Roy, Naman Ojha, Prithvi Shaw, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Avesh Khan, Abhishek Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Harshal Patel, Manjot Kalra, Sandeep Lamichhane, Sayan Ghosh.