It would have been a great battle, if the situation the two teams are in was not farcical. Delhi Daredevils hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday as the face-off between two teams at the bottom of the table remains of consequence to only one, and that too by the slimmest of margins.
On paper, there is no comparison between the two sides. RCB has one of the strongest batting units in the tournament with sufficient bowling power as well, while DD has more utility players than big-name match-winners. In reality, there has been little to choose between the two on field.
DD is already out of the race after its eighth loss in 11 games on Thursday, and with just a day’s break, the team only had optional practice on Friday.
That session, however, saw former captain Gautam Gambhir turn up to sweat it out, indicating he might return to the playing XI for the first time since giving up captaincy.
It won’t make much of a difference, however, given the fact that the three main scorers — Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant — are all likely to figure as well. It has been the team’s bowling and fielding that has let DD down repeatedly. Bowling coach James Hopes indicated that the ones without any match-time might get a look-in.
If that happens, the likes of Trent Boult and Glenn Maxwell might make way for Junior Dala and Sandeep Lamichhane. While Boult has delivered with the ball, Maxwell has been a major flop and questions are bound to be raised on coach Ricky Ponting persisting with him.
For RCB, a win in all its remaining four games might still let the team sneak into the top-four, provided other results go its way as well. Skipper Virat Kohli was said to be unwell and opted out of training on the eve of the game, though he is unlikely to sit out such an important encounter in his home city.
Besides Umesh Yadav with the ball, Kohli is the only player to have had a decent outing so far. Mandeep Singh, Quinton de Kock, Manan Vohra, Sarfaraz Khan, and Brendon McCullum have all disappointed.
The team lost by five runs against SRH chasing a modest 147 in its last outing, a defeat Kohli admitted was unacceptable given the muscle in the side. However, barring A.B. de Villiers to some extent, none of its overseas players have made an impression.
With even a whirlwind 128 by Rishabh Pant not enough to help DD win, it remains to be seen how the host bounces back from the massive nine-wicket thumping in less than 48 hours. The only consolation would be the fact that its opposition is in an equally precarious situation.
Teams:
Royal Challengers Bangalore : Virat Kohli (captain), Quinton de Kock, Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Siraj, Corey Anderson, Parthiv Patel, Tim Southee.
Delhi Daredevils : Shreyas Iyer (captain), Rishabh Pant, Glenn Maxwell, Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Colin Munro, Mohammed Shami, Amit Mishra, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Daniel Christian, Jayant Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Trent Boult, Manjot Kalra, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane, Naman Ojha, Sayan Ghosh, Liam Plunkett, Junior Dala.
Match starts at 8 p.m
