With five victories from their last six 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) outings, it is safe to say that Delhi Capitals are the in-form team at the moment.
However, the next opponents for the young guns of Delhi are a team in similarly rich vein of form as they scramble desperately to keep their slim play-off ambitions alive.
Having started the season with six straight losses, Royal Challengers Bangalore are still hanging by a thread ahead of their visit to Delhi with four victories coming in their last five matches.
As such, there is little to separate the two sides when it comes to form and momentum ahead of Sunday’s blockbuster meeting at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium.
DELHI ON A HIGH BUT STILL NOT OUT OF THE WOODS
Having finished as the wooden-spoon holders in the 2018 edition, it has been some turnaround from the rejigged Delhi Capitals with the team now potentially just one victory away from sealing a play-off berth.
Currently sitting in third and behind Mumbai Indians only on net run-rate, Delhi will be aiming for a strong finish but they need to be wary that things could change fast.
Three defeats in their remaining league matches could still see them drop out of the play-off race and as such, they will need to ensure that they don’t take their foot off the gas just yet.
With 4 fifties to his name already, @SDhawan25 is roaring for us at the top 🐯
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) April 27, 2019
How many runs will Gabbar score in #DCvRCB?#ThisIsNewDelhi #DelhiCapitals pic.twitter.com/cKAgpe5K2y
BANGALORE IN A FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL
While Delhi are searching for that one win which will all but confirm a play-off qualification, RCB are in a desperate battle to just survive. Having looked down and out at the halfway stage, Virat Kohli’s men have done extremely well to stay alive for another round and they have done it the hard way too.
All four of Bangalore’s victories have gone down to the wire with the side showing immense mental fortitude to ultimately finish on the right side of the result. With Kohli’s men still needing to win each of their three remaining games to have any shot at the play-offs, the difficulty of the task ahead for Bangalore has just gone up by a degree.
They have lost the services of veteran South Africa pacer Dale Steyn after just two games and his early wickets in the powerplay overs will be a serious miss. Couple it with the departures of all-rounder Moeen Ali back to England and RCB are starting to look a little light for the remainder of the campaign.
Watch @Heini22 and @SHetmyer fire up at the net practice session in Delhi. Can't wait to see these guys #PlayBold tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/w8gtMk2UF5
— Royal Challengers (@RCBTweets) April 27, 2019
RCB’S FEROZ SHAH KOTLA STRONGHOLD
While Delhi did manage to get the better of RCB in the reverse-fixture earlier this season at Bengaluru, their record at home against their opponents isn’t too flattering.
In the past eight meetings between the two sides at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, it has been RCB who have come out on top on each occasion. The last time Delhi managed to get the better of Bangalore in their own backyard was all the way back in the 2010 edition when Paul Collingwood’s unbeaten 75 paved the way for a 37-run win.
LIKELY XIs
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Colin Ingram, Axar Patel, Chris Morris, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Parthiv Patel (wk), AB de Villiers, Marcus Stoinis, Colin de Grandhomme, Akshdeep Nath, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini.
