It will be a bottom of the table clash in the IPL when Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Delhi Daredevils at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.
With one win and three losses each so far in the four matches , the pressure will well and truly be on both teams.
Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers have once again had a stuttering start to their campaign with their sole win coming at home against the high-flying Kings XI Punjab. On the other hand, Gautam Gambhir’s revamped Delhi Daredevils have failed to take off in the IPL so far with a last-ball victory over Mumbai Indians being their only saving grace.
TALKING POINTS
BANGALORE STRUGGLING WITH COMBINATION
Before the start of the IPL, all talk was around Bangalore’s batting line-up that has Kohli, AB de Villiers, Brendon McCullum and Quinton de Kock. Four matches down the line, the picture is not pretty for Kohli’s men.
While McCullum has been woefully out of form, the rest of the superstars have not clicked together. De Villiers has not fired since the opening two games and that has cost the Royal Challengers dearly with Kohli burdened with scoring the lion’s share of runs. If the Bengaluru franchise are to turn it around in the competition, they will need superstars like De Villiers to be more consistent.
DELHI BATTLING FAMILIAR WOES
While Royal Challengers are struggling with their overseas combination, Daredevils have fared no better. The lack of star names in the line-up is a big cause of worry for the Delhi-based franchise. A flailing batting order was propped up by Jason Roy who was instrumental in the win over Mumbai.
The runs have dried up for Gambhir after a fine fifty in the opening match while Glenn Maxwell has misfired all tournament before a cameo in the loss against Kolkata Knight Riders. The lack of runs from the big names has put too much pressure on the young shoulders of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant.
The all-rounder’s slot too is still up in the air with both Daniel Christian and Chris Morris rotating in that position with mixed results.
PLAYER IN FOCUS
For the hosts, pacer Umesh Yadav has shown both the good and the bad in the tournament. His hostile spell of 3-23 was the catalyst for the side’s sole win over Kings XI while he also did some early damage with two quick wickets in the loss to Mumbai Indians. He was also taken for 59 runs in the loss to Rajasthan Royals thanks mainly to Sanju Samson.
With Umesh, you never quite know what you are going to get on a given day. The Royal Challengers will be hoping the hostile and accurate avatar of the India pacer turns up on Saturday.
LIKELY LINE-UPS
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Quinton de Kock (wk), Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Mandeep Singh, Corey Anderson, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar, Chris Woakes, Umesh Yadav
Delhi Daredevils: Gautam Gambhir (C), Jason Roy, Shreyas Iyer, Rishab Pant (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Mohammed Shami, Trent Boult, Shahbaz Nadeem
