Overview
The Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will contest the 50th match of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) season at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, with the tussle for play-off spots hotting up. Delhi will likely have to win five consecutive matches to make it, as eight wins were the minimum requirement for the playoffs in 2022, when RCB finished fourth with an 8-6 record. Currently bottom of the table, Delhi will face extremely motivated opponents in their remaining opponents. After RCB, they will play two matches each against Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings, both of whom are very much in the post-season mix.
Delhi will be high on confidence after salvaging a seemingly lost cause in their away game against Gujarat, although they will be concerned about losing 2.33 wickets per powerplay and the mini-slump in David Warner’s form. To succeed, Delhi must overcome RCB’s recent dominance, with four consecutive losses to them since the start of 2021. RCB have also improved their away game, winning on their last two trips, to Lucknow and Punjab.
Their top three players – Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, and Glenn Maxwell – are the only ones with more than 100 runs or a batting average over 20. RCB’s middle-order accelerators, Mahipal Lomror and Dinesh Karthik, have been disappointing, as has Shahbaz Ahmed with the willow.
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Venue and time
Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi. 7:30 PM IST
Head-to-Head
Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore have faced each other 29 times in the IPL. RCB are clearly the dominant side with 18 victories. Delhi meanwhile have defeated RCB 10 times, with one match ending as no-result. In Delhi, the numbers read 6-3 in favour of Bangalore.
Expected conditions and toss
It is expected to be fairly hot in Delhi on Saturday evening with temperatures set to be over 35C. With the pitch in Delhi playing a bit two-paced, the team winning the toss could opt to bat first and put up a big score with the track likely to become tough to bat on in the second innings.
Likely Playing XIs and Impact Player
Lalit Yadav or Prithvi Shaw could come in as an Impact Player, while Delhi have the option to choose from Chetan Sakariya and Khaleel Ahmed if they want to bolster their bowling attack. For RCB, Anuj Rawat or Kedar Jadhav could be an option as Impact Player.
Delhi Capitals: David Warner (C), Phil Salt (WK), Priyam Garg, Rilee Roussouw, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Aman Hakim Khan, Ripal Patel, Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (C), Shahbaz Ahmed, Glenn Maxwell, Suyash Prabhudessai, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood, Harshal Patel.