An upbeat Royal Challengers Bangalore will face a silently confident Delhi Daredevils at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Sunday evening. On paper Bangalore have always been the favourite against Delhi. Not a lot will change this time as well. They go into the match having thrashed Sunrisers Hyderabad with a superior batting effort in their opening match. Delhi, on the other hand, have had a mixed run. They began by going down to Kolkata Knight Riders in what was an embarrassing batting performance, but fought back with an impressive win against Kings XI Punjab, thanks to an excellent bowling effort.
Bangalore got the better of Hyderabad purely on the basis of their batting strength. And, they would like to continue in the same vein. AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli were in fine form against Hyderabad, and the former in particular blasted almost everything out of his sight in yet another incredible display of big hitting. While Kohli wasn't as successful with the big hits, he continued finding the boundaries at will. Kohli has been in amazing form of the last year, and took the same into RCB's opening match in the IPL as well. As a combination, de Villiers and Kohli are deadly, and RCB would love the two to carry on the great form.
While Kohli and de Villiers were excellent in the previous game, what would have pleased RCB most was the innings by young Sarfaraz Khan, who played a blazing cameo that had some of the seniors in the team in awe. All-rounder Shane Watson also came up with a worthy effort, playing a quick cameo, and also chipping in with the ball. Chris Gayle failed in the previous match, so he will also be looking to come up with a big knock. In the bowling Yuzvendra Chahal stepped up nicely in the absence of the injured Samuel Badree. Adam Milne and Harshal Patel are other good bowling options in Bangalore's kitty.
Looking at Bangalore's batting might, it will be an exceedingly tough task for Delhi to stop them. They will be heavily dependent on Amit Mishra and skipper Zaheer Khan to deliver the goods. Mishra came up with a fantastic bowling effort against Punjab, but it goes without saying that Bangalore have a much stronger batting line up, and Delhi will have to bowl out of their skins to overcome them. The performance of Zaheer at the top of the innings could be crucial since it could set the tone of the innings.
While Delhi's bowlers did a commendable job against Punjab, it is time their batting also steps up. They were miserable in their opening game, and did not have a lot to do against Punjab. Of course, they will be pleased with the efforts of Quinton de Kock, who came up with an impressive half-century, but a lot more would be expected of the rest. Considering the strong opposition they would be facing, Delhi will seek significant contributions from the likes of Shreyas Iyer, JP Duminy, Sanju Samson, and of course the toast of world cricket, Carlos Braithwaite.
-- By A Cricket Analyst
