An intriguing battle is on the cards when fearless Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals clash in an IPL match, where the outcome will be governed by a clutch of exciting personal match-ups, in Bengaluru on Thursday.
The Capitals have three wins from as many matches, and the Royal Challengers bagged three victories from four games. That record testifies their wonderful shapeshifting ability according to opponents and conditions.
Royal Challengers have mastered conditions as distinct as Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai and their lone stumble came at home against Gujarat Titans.
It was more to do with a rather out of character Chinnaswamy pitch taking them by surprise than any sudden erosion in skills.
The RCB will be wiser for that experience against the Delhi side, who have wins at varied Visakhapatnam and Chennai tracks.
But the hosts will be a confident group as star batter Virat Kohli made a return to run-making ways after an all too brief blip.
If the 22-yard strip here retains its nature from that GT match, then Kohli's form will be crucial for RCB.
RCB new ball bowlers' effect
Without being spectacular, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have given RCB control over their rivals in the Power Plays.
They will have to do an encore against Delhi keeping KL Rahul, who knows the conditions here to the hilt, silent. Rahul is now trying to maximise his stay at the crease rather looking to bat deep as he has often done in the past, and it has made him a more dangerous customer.
Kohli vs Starc and Kuldeep
The 36-year-old Indian star will have two formidable foes to negate in this match — pacer Mitchell Starc and left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
Kohli has an edge over Starc in T20s as he has scored 72 runs off 31 balls, but the Aussie is in fine fettle this season taking nine wickets from three matches at an average of 11.
So, Kohli's battle with Starc in the Power Play will have a massive influence on RCB's initial charge. Kohli will come up against Kuldeep (6 wickets at an economy of 6) if he bats a bit deeper, and it will be an interesting battle.
Kohli is a much-evolved batter in T20s after shedding his reticence to play lofted and sweep shots against spinners.
It has allowed him to bat with more liberty against slow bowlers, and Kuldeep's endless bag of tricks will challenge the senior pro, especially the one the slides away from the right-hander.
Here, in-form RCB skipper Rajat Patidar too will have a big role to play as he is a superb player of spin, and, in that context, DC will hope for a heavier contribution from left-arm spinner Axar Patel.
The Delhi captain has bowled just eight overs across three matches, and is yet to take any wickets.
The Delhi outfit will also closely watch the fitness of Faf du Plessis, who missed the previous match against Chennai Super Kings.
If Du Plessis, another player with first-hand knowledge of the conditions here, joins Rahul atop then it will become imperative for RCB new ball bowlers to fall into their rhythm straightaway.
Teams (from):
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Rajat Patidar (c), Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Dar Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Abhinandan Singh, Romario Shepherd, Lungi Ngidi, Nuwan Thushara, Mohit Rathee, Swastik Chikara.
Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel (c), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel(w), Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Karun Nair, Donovan Ferreira, Tripurana Vijay, Darshan Nalkande, Dushmantha Chameera, KL Rahul, T Natarajan, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Manvanth Kumar L, Madhav Tiwari.
Match starts at 7.30 pm.
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