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IPL 2021 | DC vs RCB: Brutally hurt Challengers look to regroup against Red-hot Capitals

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The Royal Challengers Bangalore were looking like a team to beat before they met Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in their last match of the Mumbai leg. They were not only defeated but thrashed brutally with all their confidence taking a tumble. Their main bowler, Harshal Patel was taken to the cleaners and all their strike batsmen including Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli were tossed up like minions in the sky under the Chennai storm. 

It is under these circumstances that the red and gold would take the field against a team that is oozing with confidence under a young skipper and with a super over victory under their belt. Delhi Capitals by any means are not an easy opponent for the pride hurt Challengers. 

Could Ashwin's absence be a blessing in disguise for DC?

Ravichandran Ashwin, one of the major part of a Delhi Capitals outfit decided to quit the IPL midway to be with his family which is fighting Covid-19. In any circumstance, Ashwin, 34, is an asset for any team with his ability to provide so many variations with the ball, especially in the powerplay. 

However, in this IPL, Ashwin hasn’t really been that effective. The spinner has got only one scalp in the 19 overs of the five games that he has bowled in. His economy rate of 7.74 isn’t the best either and it could be said that with the comeback of Axar Patel, Ashwin’s absence could pretty much solve the jigsaw puzzle for the Capitals. 

Lalit Yadav, who has been in great touch with both bat and ball could now be included in the side without compromising on anything. In the three matches that he has played, Yadav, 24, has scored 54 runs and has got dismissed only once. With the ball too, he has been successful in picking a wicket and has generally been economical only. 

With Amit Mishra, Axar, Lalit, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan and Marcus Stoinis as bowling options, the Capitals have a more than good enough chance of trouncing any opponent. 

Getting the loss out of system should be RCB's priority

The RCB unit must take the defeat at the hands of CSK as an off day which any team could have had in a season. Instead of drawing too many conclusions Virat Kohli and his men must let that defeat sink in and redraw the lessons from their previous wins to focus on the next game. The fact that their prime bowler, who has so far taken 15 wickets in just five games of the tournament, went for 37 runs in the last over, was not a mistake on the part of his skills.  Rather they should take it on the face value that the batsman at the other end was too brave, too skilful, too lucky at times to do what he did in that game. 

Similarly with their batsmen including the skipper himself failing in the face of the adversity should not demoralise themselves. Instead, they should go chin up and trust their skills with which one Devdutt Padikkal scored a hundred, another Maxwell showed that he could be consistent and an ABD demonstrated that winning games were still a trick he could pull easily. 

It is only this attitude that could lift up the morale of the team and could lead its comeback. 

Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore: Match Details

Match Number-22

Date and Time: April 27, 2021, 07:30 pm IST, 02:00 pm GMT

Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

Broadcast and Live Stream: Star Sports and Hotstar

Pitch Report

The newly built Motera Stadium has several strips which could be used as the pitch for the game and fortunately or unfortunately, all the strips do not behave the same way. This means that a game could be as high scoring affair as a team getting 224 and the second team could close it down as well, or it could be as low scoring as the team bundling out for 124. 

But with the experience of the India-England T20I series and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy knockouts, it could be reasoned that the square won’t be super quick and thus expecting runs in access of 170 might be too much. 

Weather and Toss

With clear skies and temperatures getting better for playing cricket with each passing hour, Motera could be a better place to play with three fast bowlers and two spinners. It would surely be better than Chennai and the western part of India is prone to dew in this period of the year. Hence, a skipper winning the toss and deciding to field first shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. 

Team News

Delhi Capitals

With Ashwin leaving the field and no signs of Nortje’ full recovery, the only change possible in the team seems the coming back of Lalit Yadav in place of the off-spinner. 

Strongest XI

Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Steven Smith, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan

Royal Challengers Bangalore

The idea of pushing Dan Christian ahead of Daniel Sams is beyond logic, especially with the fact that Sams has so far been untested. Moreover, since Motera has been pace friendly, playing Sams with an option of left-arm angle for the left-handed Delhi batters would be an interesting approach. Also, the fact that Sams in the past had been part of the DC camp could also come as an advantage for the RCB unit, giving all the more reasons as to why he should play. 

Shahbaz Ahmed should also get back his place in place of Navdeep Saini. 

Strongest XI

Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Daniel Sams, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal

Dream XI Predictions / Fantasy XI Suggestions

AB de Villiers (wk), Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan (c), Glenn Maxwell, Devdutt Padikkal (vc), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Amit Mishra, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan.

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