Having chopped the wings of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the first match with their batting might, Royal Challengers clash against a rejuvenated Delhi Daredevils.
Delhi Daredevils
After losing their first match against Kolkata Knight Riders by a big margin of 9 wickets, this young Zaheer Khan-led team bounced back strongly to defeat Kings XI Punjab in the second match.
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With excellent fielding and bowling, backed by power hitting from Quinton de Kock and Sanju Samson, Delhi Daredevils overcame its demons from the opening match, in which their batting unit failed completely and were bundled out for just 98. Kolkata Knight Riders didn't sweat much to go past the total.
DD has a strong batting line-up with the likes of de Kock, Samson, JP Duminy, Carlos Brathwaite and Shreyas Iyer.
The bowling lived up to its expectations against Kings XI Punjab with Amit Mishra, playing in his 100th IPL match, managing a remarkable 4 for 11 in his three overs. The captain, Zaheer Khan, bowled brilliantly and he was backed by Jayant Shah and Chris Morris.
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Pawan Negi, the highest paid Indian player in this year’s IPL, would have to up the game in the bowling department against the Royal Challengers.
Zaheer might not change the XI which won against Kings XI Punjab, but would expect a big score from the other opener, Shreyas Iyer, who has a wonderful record in the domestic circuit.
My DD playing XI:
Quinton de Kock, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, JP Duminy, Carlos Brathwaite, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Chris Morris, Jayant Shah, Pawan Negi and Karun Nair.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
The RCB batsmen would certainly be rearing to go against the Delhi Daredevils bowlers. The team is packed with big match players followed by some excellent all-rounders.
Chris Gayle, who had a poor outing in his opening match, will have to fire at the top of the order. Even if he fails, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers can tear apart any bowling attack in the world.
The youngster, Sarfaraz Khan made mincemeat of the bowling attack of Sunrisers Hyderabad. “He is an incredible young man and there is no doubt that he has worked extremely hard to get all kinds of shots right. The control over shots he has... never seen before for a young talent like him. It shows he has practised hell of a lot, and we saw him this tonight,” Shane Watson had told reporters at the post-match press conference.
A strong batting backed with good bowlers make Royal Challengers Bangalore one of the three teams to watch for this season.
The four foreign players are confirmed for this team -- Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Shane Watson and Adam Milne.
The bowling unit looks good led by Adam Milne, Patel, Chahal and above all, Shane Watson. Parvez Rasool can be a handy batsman down the order and can bowl diligently. The bowling has responded well to the calls of its skipper Virat Kohli.
I don't think Virat Kohli will opt for any changes to the team that won against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
My RCB playing XI would be
Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers, Shane Watson, Sarfaraz Khan, Kedhar Jadhav, Stuart Binny, Parvez Rasool, H. Patel, Adam Milne, Y. Chahal