Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Delhi Capitals: Fantasy Preview

Royal Challengers Bangalore will take on Delhi Capitals in Match No. 19 of the Indian Premier League 2020 in Dubai on Monday (October 5). Both teams have won three of their first four games and would look to carry forward the winning momentum, so that they could consolidate their position at the top of the points table.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Overall: Matches – 23 | RCB – 14 Wins | DC – 8 Wins

Last 5 matches: RCB – 3 Wins | DC – 2 Wins

While you could go for the above team, you also have the option of choosing your own team from Cricket.com Fantasy Research Centre. Based on algorithms we come up with six different teams that could fetch crucial points.

GROUND DETAILS

All the three venues in IPL 2020 have been a good one to bat on. However, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, teams have struggled in the second innings. On Sunday, Chennai Super Kings became the first team to successfully chase down a total at this venue. Meanwhile, two teams came close to chasing a target successfully, but, both of them lost in the Super Over. Kings XI Punjab in the second match and Mumbai Indians in the 10th.

On an average, 177 runs have been scored in the first innings at this venue this season. Though the boundaries have been on the bigger side, sixes have been a common sighting. In the initial phase of the innings, it has been a difficult one. Runs in the powerplay have come at a run rate of 7.1. But, as the game progresses, runs have come freely, especially in the last five overs.

TEAM COMBINATION

The Dubai International Cricket Stadium has given something to everyone. It’s not only the batsmen, but bowlers also have had good spells. In terms of balls/wicket, both spinners and pacers have been on equal terms. Pacers have bagged a wicket every 23.4 balls and spinners have managed to break through a tad early (22.3). However, pacers have dominated the wickets section with 62.1% of wickets.   

Six batsmen including wicketkeepers, two allrounders and three frontline bowlers could be the ideal team combination. As the venues assist the quicks in the first six overs, bowlers with the ability to take wickets up front would be a good option. Bowlers like Kagiso Rabada and Navdeep Saini could make merry at the start and at the death as well. Meanwhile, Yuzvendra Chahal too is an attacking option.

It would be ideal to include as many top-order batsmen as possible. Batters like Devdutt Padikkal, Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer have been in solid form, while Virat Kohli too is back amongst runs after scoring a solid fifty against Rajasthan Royals. And, if you have wicketkeepers like Rishabh Pant and AB de Villiers, it's always better to include both of them in your XI.

There could be a few interesting match-ups too.

AB de Villiers v R Ashwin

He is one of the most dangerous T20 batsmen but the wicketkeeper-batsman from South Africa has struggled big time against Ashwin.  

Shreyas Iyer v Yuzvendra Chahal

The Delhi skipper enjoys batting against spinners and has a terrific record against RCB's best bowler Chahal in the shortest format of the game.

Virat Kohli v Kagiso Rabada

The South African paceman has had the better of Kohli in the limited games that they have played against each other.

SUGGESTED CAPTAIN

Virat Kohli: After registering scores of 14, 1 and 3 in the first three encounters of the season, Kohli finally returned back to form against Rajasthan Royals. The batting maestro crafted an unbeaten 72 and helped his team chase down a target of 155. The No. 3 batsman would now look to dominate the remainder of the season, starting with Delhi. The right-hander has an average of 63.46 against Delhi, his best against any IPL opponent (minimum 10 matches).  

X-FACTORS

Devdutt Padikkal: There was a huge buzz around this kid from Karnataka, after he dominated the 2019-20 domestic season. Padikkal justified his selection with a knock of 56 on his IPL debut. Though he failed in the second match, the left-hander came back strongly in his next two matches. He now has three 50+ scores in the four matches played. Hence, he became the first player in IPL to score three 50+ scores in the first four matches. Padikkal would now look to keep scoring runs and make this season his own.

Kagiso Rabada: No other bowler has taken more wickets than Rabada in the IPL since 2019. In this time period, the paceman has taken 33 wickets in 16 innings at an average of 15 and a strike rate of 11.5, which is the best amongst bowlers who have taken at least 10 wickets. Rabada has been brilliant this year as well, picking up eight wickets at a strike rate of 12.

Shreyas Iyer: The right-hander was at his brutal best against Kolkata Knight Riders in Sharjah. Iyer smoked seven fours and six maximums in his 38-ball 88* and took apart almost every bowler. Iyer has been a consistent performer for Delhi since the IPL 2019. In this time frame, no other Delhi batsman has scored more runs or has a better balls per dismissal than him. Iyer is a safe pick when it come to fantasy cricket