‘Match 27’ of the 2022 Indian Premier League season will see Delhi Capitals crossing swords with Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. Delhi Capitals are stationed in the seventh position in the league standings, with Royal Challengers Bangalore placed just above them.
Delhi has had a stop-start campaign so far – looking really formidable in some matches and absolutely lacklustre in others. Rishabh Pant’s team has won two and lost as many of their four encounters.
On the other hand, Royal Challengers Bangalore are looking pretty well-balanced both on paper and on the ground, and they just need to be a bit more consistent. Faf du Plessis’ men have won three of their five outings so far.
What have they done so far?
Delhi Capitals started their season with a game against Mumbai Indians, where they fought hard to register a four-wicket triumph. However, Pant’s team failed to capitalize on the momentum and ended up losing their second game against Gujarat Titans by 14 runs.
After Gujarat, another newly-formed franchise in Lucknow Super Giants handed the Capitals a defeat in their third game. However, they have done really well to bounce back and secure a convincing 44-run win against a formidable Kolkata Knight Riders team in their last match.
Royal Challengers Bangalore started their season with a narrow defeat against Punjab Kings but then registered three consecutive victories. The streak started with a three-wicket triumph against Kolkata Knight Riders before du Plessis’ team registered a four-wicket win against Rajasthan Royals.
The boys in black and red then defeated Mumbai Indians as well in their fourth outing. However, the Royal Challengers failed to make it four wins in a row as in their previous fixture, Chennai Super Kings handed them a 23-run defeat.
Head to Head Record
Royal Challengers Bangalore holds the edge on head-to-head statistics, as they have beaten Delhi Capitals on 17 of the 28 occasions where these two sides have crossed paths previously. The Capitals have won 10 games, with one match not yielding a result.
The last meeting between Delhi and Bangalore saw the latter securing a seven-wicket win courtesy of a sensational knock by KS Bharat, who incidentally is a part of the Delhi Capitals set-up this time around but is not getting opportunities.
Key Players
Delhi Capitals’ Kuldeep Yadav is picking up wickets for fun
Kuldeep Yadav: Delhi Capitals might have done not only themselves but the Indian team a huge favour by reviving the career of Kuldeep Yadav, who now is picking up wickets for fun after spending a considerable white on the sidelines. The left-arm wrist-spinner is currently his team’s leading wicket-taker with 10 scalps in four matches. As poetic as it gets, Yadav’s best performance came against his former team Kolkata Knight Riders, where he picked up a four-wicket haul.
Dinesh Karthik: Like Kuldeep, another former Kolkata Knight Riders player, Dinesh Karthik is also having a fantastic IPL 2022 campaign, but for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He has scored 131 runs in five matches at an incredible strike rate of 218.33. The 36-year-old’s best knock came against Rajasthan Royals, where he remained unbeaten on 44.
Predicted Playing XI
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Rovman Powell, Sarfaraz Khan, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman, Khaleel Ahmed.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Suyash Prabhudessai, Josh Hazlewood, Mohammed Siraj, Siddarth Kaul.
Prediction
Delhi Capitals might have won their last match comfortably, but Royal Challengers Bangalore seem to have the better balance among the two teams, whilst head-to-head statistics are also inclined in their favour. Hence, we have predicted Bangalore to win this clash between two teams chasing their maiden IPL title.
