Bengaluru: Flexing their batting strength in the opener with a big win and followed by a four-day break, a revitalised Royal Challengers Bangalore will take on Delhi Daredevils here on Sunday.
After being humbled by Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens in the first game, Daredevils bounced back in style on Friday night to crush Kings XI Punjab at Kotla. Having tasted victory owing to seasoned leggie Amit Mishra’s heroics, the visitors have a daunting task against the batting might of RCB on a batting friendly deck at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
For the hosts, skipper Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers are in sublime form while the dangerous Chris Gayle is yet to show off his batting prowess this season.
Against the Hyderabad Sunrisers, the Caribbean star Gayle was pretty unlucky to bow out early but later the duo of de Villiers and Kohli ripped apart David Warner’s bowling department to post the season’s highest target — 227.
Being a weekend, a run-feast is on the cards and the home crowd will be expecting fireworks from the RCB top-order. The home side are likely to field an unchanged squad without tampering their winning combination.
Meanwhile, rivals Daredevils, led by the experienced Zaheer Khan — who bowled a brilliant spell on Friday — will play a key role during the Powerplay.
With the top-order firing on all cylinders, Daredevils need to plan a strategy during the death overs as well to tackle youngster Sarfaraz Khan from playing those unorthodox scoop shots.
Even though missing Mitchell Starc and Samuel Badree, RCB have banked on the domestic recruits to shoulder the middle overs. Spinner duo Parvez Rasool and Yuzvendra Chahal did an impressive job in the opener.
“This ground is high-scoring. So we really can’t blame the bowlers. We have to score 180-220 here every game. It’s a batting paradise, with a small boundary. The bowlers are not to be blamed,” said said RCB stumper Kedar Jadhav.
On the eve of the clash, Daredevils mentor Rahul Dravid was Chinnaswamy to have a look at the pitch and later had a lengthy discussion with the curator.
