IPL 2025: With optimism on a high, DC and RCB set to face-off in a high-stakes showdown

New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) High spirits and optimistic anticipation will dominate the mood around the Arun Jaitley Stadium as Delhi Capitals (DC) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) face-off in a high-stakes IPL 2025 showdown on Sunday evening.

Both teams have a well-rounded look and that reflects from them having 12 points each – though DC are ahead of RCB on the basis of net run rate and having one defeat less than them. RCB have won six of their ten meeting against DC in New Delhi, both teams are literally neck to neck in how they have gone about their business in batting and bowling.

As per statistics from Cricket-21, RCB have a better strike-rate (161) and run-rate (9.7) in batting power-play as compared to DC (155 and 9.3 respectively), thanks in large to Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal being in great form. But when it comes to batting in middle and death overs, DC have the upper hand.

With the firepower of KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Tristan Stubbs and Ashutosh Sharma, DC have a strike-rate of 152, and run-rate of 9.1 in middle overs, which is more than what RCB have in that phase (139 and 8.3 respectively). In the last five overs, DC’s strike-rate is a massive 205 and run-rate at 12.3, which is again more than RCB’s numbers (190 and 11.4 respectively).

When the last time these two teams met at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Rahul’s 93 not out and an unbeaten 38 from Stubbs lifted DC out of trouble after losing three wickets in the powerplay and put them on the path to an astonishing victory.

With some purchase on offer for spinners at Kotla, which has a fast outfield and smaller dimensions, DC will bank on their firepower in the middle if they are to outclass RCB’s top-order batting might. In terms of bowling, it is very much the same story with little adjustments.

RCB have a better economy rate (8.3) and picked more wickets (15) than DC (9.8 economy rate and 12 scalps) in the powerplay. Though RCB have picked 23 wickets in middle overs, which is one more than DC, the hosts’ have a better economy rate (8.5) as compared to the visitors’ (8.8).

In death overs, again RCB (17) has more scalps than DC (14), but the hosts’ have a better economy rate (9.5) as compared to visitors (10). Who knows that in a run-fest, the result of Sunday’s game will be decided by how the bowlers fare.

DC have been blessed by Axar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc and Vipraj Nigam holding their own in crucial situations while RCB have the services of Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma to capitalise on their recent joy of the first home win of this season.

When RCB landed at Delhi airport ahead of their game against DC, fans were quick to swarm the exit area and chant local lad Kohli’s name. The talismanic batter, who has six IPL fifties at his home venue, will again be the centre of attention on Sunday.

It remains to be seen if love and support for Kohli will upstage the new-found admiration in Delhi’s cricket fans for Rahul, who left RCB and Chinnaswamy, stunned with a mesmerising batting display and an animated ‘this is my ground’ celebration.

The DC-RCB showdown in New Delhi has all the ingredients to be a nail-biter, as both teams are nearly evenly matched in batting and bowling statistics. Come Sunday, and amidst an atmosphere of high optimism, and nervous anticipation, there will be interesting subplots to keep tabs on, with the crucial clash culminating in only one team’s jubilation.

When: Sunday, April 27 at 7:30 pm IST

Where: Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi

Where to watch: Live telecast on Star Sports network and live streaming on JioHotstar.

Squads:

Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel (captain), Faf du Plessis, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Mitchell Starc, Vipraj Nigam, Karun Nair, Ashutosh Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sameer Rizvi, T. Natarajan, Darshan Nalkande, Dushmantha Chameera, Donovan Ferreira, Ajay Mandal, Manvanth Kumar, Tripurana Vijay, and Madhav Tiwari.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Rajat Patidar (c), Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Dar Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Abhinandan Singh, Romario Shepherd, Lungi Ngidi, Nuwan Thushara, Mohit Rathee, Swastik Chikara.

--IANS

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