Indian Premier League 2020: Royal Challengers Bangalore lock horns with Delhi Capitals in battle for top spot
Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will square off with Shreyas Iyer-led Delhi Capitals in Match 19 of the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in what will be a battle for the top spot at the Dubai International Stadium on Monday.
Delhi Capitals and RCB are currently occupying the the top two spot in the IPL table after clinching three wins each from their four matches. The Iyer-led team are standing above Bangalore due to better net run rate.
RCB began their IPL 2020 campaign with a 10-run win against SunRisers Hyderabad before slumping to a crushing 97-run defeat against Kings XI Punjab in their second fixture.Kohli’s side then rebounded strongly to register back-to-back wins against defending champions Mumbai Indians (Super Over win) and Rajasthan Royals (eight-wicket victory).
For RCB, both the openers–Devdutt Padikkal and Aaron Finch have impressed with the bat.In fact, Padikkal has become the first player in the history of IPL to notch up three 50-plus score in the first four games anyone played.
Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, kicked off the 13th season of lucrative T20 tournament with a Super Over win over the Kings XI Punjab before they registered a comfortable 44-run triumph over three-time winners Chennai Super Kings (CSK).However, Delhi suffered a 15-run defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the third match, but they bounced back to clinch an 18-run win over the Kolkata Knight Riders.
DC’s opening pair Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan are yet to provide a solid start to their side. However, Shaw showed his clash in the side’s last fixture against KKR by hammering an impressive knock off 66 runs.
Talking about the skippers of the two sides. Kohli finally returned to form against Steve Smith-led Rajasthan Royals by notching up a sublime knock of 72 runs to help his side comfortably chase down a total of 159 in Abu Dhabi.He had managed figures of just 3, 1 and 14 in his side’s first three matches.
The swashbuckling Indian batsman, who is the top run-scorer of the cash-rich league with a total of 5,502 runs in 181 games, will look to reach the 9,000-run mark in T20s during RCB’s clash against Delhi Capitals. Kohli is currently just 10 runs shy of the landmark.
Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals skipper Iyer too displayed solid peformance with a bat in his side’s previous match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), registering a quick-fire 38-ball 88 to help his team post a good total of 228 for four in their stipulated 20 overs.
Both skippers will now be keen to lead from the front and outclass each other in what promises to be an exciting encounter.
Talking about the head-to-head record between the two sides going into the clash, RCB hold a decent edge over Delhi Capitals as they have won 14 out of 23 encounters between the two teams.
The two squads are as follows:
Delhi Capitals: Shreyas Iyer (C), Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Lamichhane, Kagiso Rabada, Keemo Paul, Mohit Sharma, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Ravi Ashwin, Marcus Stoinis, Daniel Sams, Rishabh Pant, Alex Carey, Shimron Hetmyer and Tushar Deshpande
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Aaron Finch, Devdutt Padikkal, Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Gurkeerat Singh, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Navdeep Saini, Dale Steyn, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Isuru Udana, Moeen Ali, Josh Philippe, Pawan Negi, Pavan Deshpande, Mohammad Siraj, Umesh Yadav.
