Overview
Royal Challengers Bangalore‘s bowling unit laid low by the inconsistency bug – A familiar headline from the past seems to be haunting the franchise once again. In the first and second game of IPL 2023, Bangalore’s slog-overs bowling came under scrutiny. In their gut-wrenching loss against Lucknow Super Giants, the franchise ended up giving away a whopping 115 runs between overs 7 to 16.
It is true that two of the three matches were played at the Chinnaswamy stadium, where we generally get to see true wickets. But that indicates that Bangalore perhaps don’t have the required artillery to prevent opposition teams from successfully overhauling massive targets when playing at home. In that sense, the franchise would be delighted that Wanindu Hasaranga, their spin spearhead and the second-highest wicket-taker from the last season, has joined the set-up . He has also taken part in his first training session this season, and looks geared up to play the important encounter against Delhi Capitals.
Bangalore also seem to rely a lot on Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli to do the bulk of the scoring. In that backdrop, Glenn Maxwell did give a timely boost to the line-up with a quick-fire half-century against Lucknow. The likes of Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed also have to chip in with useful contributions. Karthik’s struggles against leg-spin are well-known, while Shahbaz hasn’t done anything of note either with the bat or ball so far this season. Several years ago, in the Raj Singh Dungarpur Trophy and Vijay Merchant Trophy age-group tournaments, Lomror had developed a reputation for his hitting prowess against spin. But at the higher levels, he hasn’t exactly been able to convert that potential into runs.
Delhi, their opponent, find themselves in a quagmire, having lost all their four games so far. Perhaps, on a true wicket, shot-makers like Rilee Rossouw, Rovman Powell and Prithvi Shaw might come good. David Warner has been scoring fifties consistently, but it was quite evident in their last game against Mumbai Indians that he didn’t have much batting rhythm. In his professional career, Warner has rarely missed out on nailing the pull shot, and we witnessed that rare event in Delhi’s last game.
On the other hand, in the same match, Axar Patel looked in very good nick. A slight change in stance seems to have helped him to score freely through the on-side. Axar perhaps deserves a promotion in the batting order. On the bowling side of things, Mukesh Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed have taken a few wickets but the think-tank would want better control from the pace duo. On a positive note, Anrich Nortje showed glimpses of returning to form against Mumbai, and bowled a brilliant last over.
Venue and Time
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. 3.30 PM
Expected conditions and toss
The track is again set to provide even bounce. Although it isn’t a night game, one still expects the team winning the toss to bowl. Meanwhile, the weather forecast shows little or no threat of rain.
Head-to-Head
Bangalore hold an 18-10 edge over Delhi.
Possible XIs and Impact Player Watch
Bangalore tried Karn Sharma as their Impact Player in the last game. Just looking at their bowling unit, they could also unleash Avinash Singh. His extra pace may just help the side. Delhi had used Mukesh Kumar as the Impact Player in the last game. He or Sakariya could turn out to be an Impact Player against Bangalore. The Delhi side would be bolstered by the return of Mitchell Marsh.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, M Lomror, Anuj Rawat, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Wayne Parnell, Mohammed Siraj.
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner (c), Mitchell Marsh, Manish Pandey, Yash Dhull, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Abhishek Porel (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman