It's now or never for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) when they take on Delhi Capitals who are also looking to get back to winning ways, in an Indian Premier League (IPL) clash here on Sunday. After losing their first five games, RCB find themselves at the bottom of the eight-team points table. On Friday night, they looked to be in the groove with star batsmen Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers roaring back to form.
Both batsmen hit belligerent half-centuries as RCB posted a mammoth 205/3 after being asked to bat first by the Kolkata Knight Riders.
But while defending the score, they were never really in the game as KKR always had a measure of it. And once Andre Russell came in to bat with 53 runs needed off the last three overs, it was carnage as RCB lost with five balls to spare.
Pawan Negi (2/21) impressed with the ball and Yuzvendra Chahal was economical as usual. But barring the spin duo, RCB's thin bowling attack was once again exposed as Chris Lynn, Nitish Rana and Robin Uthappa took them to the cleaners before Russell made them look like amateurs.
If we bowl like that, (and) we don't show composure in pressure moments, we deserve to be where we are in the table," Kohli said at the post-match presentation.
What to expect?
Kohli's captaincy has already come under the scanner and on Friday it was surprising to see England all-rounder Moeen Ali not being used on a spin-friendly wicket.
Coming to Delhi, their batting left a lot to be desired in their last game against Sunrisers Hyderabad. While bowling too, they were good in patches as Hyderabad cantered to a five-wicket win in the end.
The likes of Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris would look to impose themselves more against RCB while Shikhar Dhawan, skipper Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Prithvi Shaw would aim to make the most of a poor bowling arsenal of their opponents.
Probable Playing XIs:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Marcus Stoinis, Parthiv Patel (wk), Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Akshdeep Nath, Tim Southee, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Colin Ingram, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Axar Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane
(With IANS inputs)
