Delhi Capitals will be eager to put an end to their miseries in the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League when they will fight a battle with Royal Challengers Bangalore. The M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru will play host to the much-fancied game of cricket on Saturday.
The Capitals are going through a lean patch in the T20 Championship as they are reeling at the bottom of the points table with no points to their name. The team has been let down by their batting unit as they are yet to score even 175 runs in their allotted 20 overs.
The skipper David Warner has been consistent with the runs but has failed to justify his strike rate. On the other hand, the other DC batters are struggling with consistency with the bat.
Just like the Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore also need to up their game. With two losses from three league games, the team is seventh in the points table. Challengers need to come up with better planning with the ball as their last two matches saw the bowlers conceding over 200 runs.
What has happened so far?
So far in the Indian Premier League 2023, Delhi Capitals have lost all their four league games. The team succumbed to a defeat by 50 overs against Lucknow Super Giants in the season opener.
This was followed by the Delhi-based franchise losing to Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals by six wickets and 57 runs respectively. All the matches saw the batters at fault as the franchise could not score above 162 runs. Meanwhile, in their most recent game against Mumbai Indians, they failed to defend the target of 172 runs and lost by six wickets.
As far as Royal Challengers Bangalore are concerned, they made a brilliant start by defeating Mumbai Indians by eight wickets. However, the team failed to live up to the expectations and ended up losing the next two games against Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants by 81 runs and one wicket respectively.
Head to Head Record
Royal Challengers Bangalore have an edge over Delhi Capitals in the head-to-head records
Royal Challengers Bangalore is leading the head-to-head records against Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League. The two teams have faced each other a total of 29 times in the history of the T20 Championship and the Bangalore outfit has emerged as a winner in 18 games.
The Capitals won ten games while the remaining one match did not fetch any results because of harsh weather conditions. Notably, the two teams locked horns with each other only once in the league last year and RCB was the better side as they cruised to a win by 16 runs.
Key Players
Faf du Plessis (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
The Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis is having a great season with the bat so far. He is the top run-getter for his team and fifth-highest overall with 175 runs in three matches at an average of 87.50.
Du Plessis is coming into the game on the back of a 79-run knock against Lucknow Super Giants. Thus, he will have the momentum and form on his side to deliver another terrific knock.
David Warner (Delhi Capitals)
Delhi Capitals are struggling with four losses in their hand but their skipper David Warner is having a fine run as an opening batter. Warner is the second-highest run-scorer with a total of 209 runs in four matches at an average of 52.25.
The only thing that the batter needs to improve in the tournament is his strike rate. It will be important for Warner to score another big knock at a good strike rate on Saturday so that his team can end their lean phase.
Predicted Playing XIs
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis ©, Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Anuj Rawat, David Willey, Wayne Parnell, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner ©, Manish Pandey, Yash Dhull, Rovman Powell, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Abishek Porel (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman
Prediction
Royal Challengers Bangalore is deemed as the favorites for the Saturday game as they will take on a struggling Delhi Capitals. If we compare the two teams, RCB is a more settled side and their players are in better form in the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League.
Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, are yet to score their first win in the tournament and will be lacking momentum after losing four matches on the trot.
