A devastated Delhi Capitals (DC) side will travel to Bengaluru to take on low on confidence Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in match 20th of the IPL 2023 on Saturday.
DC remains the only team that is yet to taste success this season. DC's latest defeat came against five-time champions Mumbai Indians, when they lost against a last-ball thriller at their home ground of Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday.
Taking field against DC will be RCB who themselves are recovering from a shock loss against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in yet another last-ball finish a night earlier at home. It was RCB's second straight loss after the team began their season by thrashing MI at home.
The losses for DC and RCB has meant that DC are stuck at the foot of the IPL 2023 points table while RCB remain in the bottom half of the points tally irrespective of the Friday's outcome between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
RCB look to strengthen its bowling with return of Wanindu Hasaranga
RCB's batting looks settled with the trio of captain Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell all slamming quickfire half-centuries against LSG. For, du Plessis and Kohli it was their second half-centuries of the season after the duo had already notched fifties against MI. What will further bolster RCB's confidence is the fact that du Plessis and Kohli are enjoying playing at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium. The two have struck partnerships of 148 and 96 playing at home.
However it is the bowling that has caused concerns for the team. Only fast bowler Mohammed Siraj and leg spinner Karn Sharma find their names amongst the list of top-20 leading wicket takers this season. Both Siraj and Sharma have picked 5 wickets each from the three matches the two have played so far. The likes of Harshal Patel and David Willey will have to up their game to strengthen the bowling.
But before RCB take field on Saturday, the team's frail bowling attack will get a shot in the arm as Sri Lankan leg spinner Wanindu Hasaranga has joined the squad after international commitments kept him away for the start of the season.
With 26 scalps, Hasaranga was the second highest wicket taker in IPL 2022. The leggie should immediately find his way back into the team's playing XI with either David Willey or Wayne Parnell warming the bench.
David Warner is DC's lone batting warrior
DC have a mountain to climb it the team aims to be in the contention for the playoffs.
Team could draw inspiration from the fact that captain David Warner hit a fighting fifty against MI. It was his third fifty of the season and has kept him firmly in the race to win this season's Orange Cap. Then lower down the order Axar Patel followed his captain's footsteps and notched a half-century of his own, although Patel's fifty came up at a far more blistering rate.
DC's weakness is its batting. Except for Warner and Patel, no other DC batter has notched a half-century this season. The likes of Prithvi Shaw, Manish Pandey, Lalit Yadav, Sarfaraz Khan and Abhishek Porel are struggling to get big scores.
A weak batting order coupled with an average bowling attack could give us a definite answer into why DC are yet to win a game this season.
Medium pacer Mukesh Kumar is leading the wicket-taking charts for DC this year after claiming 4 wickets. However, it is express pacer Anrich Nortje and willy spinner Kuldeep Yadav who have been DC's strike bowlers in the seasons gone by. The world is yet to see their best efforts this season as they have picked two wickets each thus far.
The two teams will look to draw positives from the crushing defeats as they look to get their faltering IPL 2023 campaigns back on track.
Predicted playing XIs
RCB predicted playing XI
Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Anuj Rawat, Wanindu Hasaranga, Wayne Parnell, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj
DC predicted playing XI
Prithvi Shaw, David Warner (c), Manish Pandey, Yash Dhull, Rovman Powell, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Abishek Porel (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman
Key player to watch out for
Wanindu Hasaranga (RCB)
Wanindu Hasaranga (Image: IPL/BCCI)
Expect Wanindu Hasaranga to make an instant impact on his return to the IPL. Hasaranga has grown into one of T20 cricket's most potent bowler. In 139 T20 games the leg spinner has picked 188 wickets and bowled at an average of 17.06 and has an economy of 6.78. Hasaranga could be amongst wickets against DC.
Axar Patel (DC)
At the moment, Axar Patel can do no wrong. The all-rounder had a productive Test series against Australia and has carried the good for into IPL 2023 as well. However all his contributions are coming with the bat. But lately Axar's captains seem to be under utilizing him as the bowler. Should Axar start contributing with the ball too, he will be become a very valuable asset for the team.
Pitch
The pitches at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium are batting friendly. Expect a high scoring fixture.
Where to Watch?
Television viewers can tune into this game at 3:30 pm on Saturday on the Star Sports network and the digital audience can catch the action at the same in the JioCinema application.
