On Monday, Delhi Capitals (DC) faces off against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in a must-win encounter for qualification in the Playoffs in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Both RCB and DC have had their issues of-late regarding failure to clinch wins in their last three games in the competition.
Despite their recent string of losses, they sit at the second and the third place respectively in the points table.
The two sides have bagged 14 points in the 13 games featured in. However, it is the threat from the bottom-placed sides which have accumulated some impressive wins in the fag-end of the group stages, which concerns them.
Teams such as Rajasthan Royals (RR), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) are threatening to displace the positions of DC and RCB in the top half of the table.
That said, both Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli are hungry for the couple of points which would ensure the ‘Q’ mark in front of their names.
Barring Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI), the fate of the other teams in the competition lie hanging by the thread. Such is the exciting nature of the climax in group stages of the competition.
The bowling front of the two sides has turned expensive and toothless in the last few games, which has put excessive stress on the batting department.
Therefore, the key clash in the game should be between the bowling unit of the two teams. The side which clicks better in the game should progress into the next phase of the tournament.
One can expect some radical changes in the lineup of the two sides. Ricky Ponting might look to unleash Sandeep Lamichchane in the game. The Nepalese wrist-spinner possesses the ‘X-factor’ which can surprise RCB’s star-studded batting lineup.
Predicted XI:
RCB:
Josh Philippe, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Mohammed Siraj, Sandeep Lamichchane, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal
DC:
Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Harshal Patel, Praveen Dubey, Kagiso Rabada, Ravichandran Ashwin, Anrich Nortje
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