Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore walk the playoff tightrope
Winner goes through and gets two shots at a spot in the final. Loser goes to pray
Alagappan Muthu
01-Nov-2020
Big picture
It's simple now. Winner goes through and gets two shots at a spot in the final. Loser goes to pray.
With a revamp of the backroom staff, Royal Challengers Bangalore have been paying more attention to data and match-ups. Their bowling has seemed more cohesive as well, instead of just being Yuzvendra Chahal and a bunch of others who undo his good work. This team does have what it takes to make it through, but for that they need to first win this game.
Delhi Capitals meanwhile are in a slump and it's come at the worst possible time. Early on in the tournament, it seemed like their qualification would only be a matter of time. But now, playing their very last match of the season, their chances hang by a thread. Shreyas Iyer and his men can still go through and prove that these four back-to-back losses were nothing more than a blip. But for that, they need to first win this game.
Likely XIs
Delhi Capitals: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Axar Patel, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Pravin Dubey
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Devdutt Padikkal, 2 Josh Philippe (wk), 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Chris Morris, 7 Gurkeerat Singh, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Navdeep Saini, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal
Previous meeting
Marcus Stoinis walked in at 90 for 3 and pulverised the Royal Challengers bowling. Then Axar Patel broke their top order, allowing Kagiso Rabada to feast on the rest. The Capitals won that game by 59 runs.
Strategy punt
Stats that matter
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo