Heading into the 39th game of the tournament between DC and RCB at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, another high-scoring contest is expected after PBKS completed the highest successful chase in IPL history against DC.
Delhi Capitals need a quick response after Punjab Kings chased down 265 with ease in their last game. They have four losses in their last five matches and are slipping in the table. Their bowling has been weak, made worse by Lungi Ngidi’s injury and Mitchell Starc’s absence.
DC Probable XI: KL Rahul (wk), Pathum Nissanka, Sameer Rizvi, Axar Patel (c), David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Auqib Nabi, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera
Impact subs: Vipraj Nigam, Ashutosh Sharma, Karun Nair, Nitish Rana
Injuries/Unavailabilities: Lungi Ngidi has returned to team hotel cleared of serious injury but unlikely to play soon, with Jamieson, Chameera options.
Watch Live Streaming: Fans can watch the DC vs RCB match live on the app and website of JioHotstar.
Toss Time: 7:00 PM
Pitch report: A run-fest yet again. The average first innings total in Delhi, since IPL 2023, is 200.
Head to head: RCB lead 20-13 with one no result in 34 matches against Delhi Capitals. Since 2023 both sides have won three each, while at Kotla Delhi four wins and RCB seven.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru arrive in strong form with Virat Kohli leading their batting and Josh Hazlewood back in the attack. RCB sit second and look more balanced in both departments. Delhi must tighten their execution or risk another heavy defeat at home. RCB are slight favourites in current conditions here today.
Impact subs: Jacob Bethell, Venkatesh Iyer, Mangesh Yadav, Jordan Cox, Vicky Ostwal
Injuries/Unavailabilities: Phil Salt has been ruled out of the Delhi fixture, but Rasikh Dar appeared fit and sharp during training on match-eve.
KL Rahul’s RCB record adds edge to DC vs RCB clash
KL Rahul comes into the match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru with strong numbers against his former team. Since leaving RCB in 2018, he has scored 789 runs against them, with an average of 69.91 and a strike rate of 145.65. Only Punjab Kings have seen him score faster.
He also made 152 not out against Punjab Kings in the last game, showing current form. Rahul had a fifty in the reverse fixture against RCB this season as well. He has a strong record against Josh Hazlewood, scoring more runs against him than any other batter in T20 cricket.
RCB sit second on the table with five wins in seven games, while DC are under pressure after losing four of their last five matches.