When Delhi Capitals face Royal Challengers Bangalore in a do-or-die match at their home ground Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday, they will have two big challenges in front of them. One to recover from his own batting and the other to deal with the Virat Kohli factor. Delhi will be on its own ground, but due to Virat Kohli, its support will be divided.


Virat himself is from Delhi and is aware of every nook and corner of the Kotla ground since childhood. On the basis of Virat, RCB will not leave any chance to make this match in their favor to take a long jump in the points table. At the same time, Delhi will have to win this match at any cost to stay in the playoff race.
Statistics of both teams


Both the teams have come face to face 29 times earlier. Out of this, 18 matches have been won by Bangalore and 10 matches by Delhi. One match is inconclusive. The two teams have met nine times at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Of these, six matches have been won by Bangalore and three matches by Delhi.

Bangalore has won six of the last seven matches played between the two teams at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Delhi won the only match in 2019. Both the teams have come face to face once this season. Batting first, Bangalore scored 174 runs for six wickets in 20 overs. In response, the Delhi team could score 151 runs for nine wickets in 20 overs. Bangalore won this match by 23 runs.

Kohli will try to answer with the bat after the controversy
Virat Kohli has also been heavily criticized for his brawl with Gautam Gambhir in the last match in Lucknow. There is also a reason why Virat will leave no stone unturned to reply with his bat after this controversy. He is also famous for the saying that let the bat speak.

Despite having an alternate net on Thursday, Virat practiced hard at the nets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Virat also knows that this ground and the support here are special to him. There is also a pavilion here named after Kohli.

Delhi's upper order has become a problem
Delhi pulled off a thrilling win over Gujarat Titans in the previous match, but this was possible thanks to the bowling of Ishant Sharma and Khaleel Ahmed. The upper order of Delhi's batting is the biggest reason for their problem. In the first six matches, only captain David Warner's bat was played, but he is also calm for the last three matches.

After the failure of Prithvi Shaw, the bet of sending wicket-keeper Phil Salt to the opening has not been successful so far. Even Priyam Garg, who was not taken in the bid, has not been able to walk. Aman Hakim Khan and Ripple Patel took Delhi to 130 after falling five wickets for 23 runs against Gujarat.


Runs are being sent down the order
Talking about the batting, the only positive for Delhi is all-rounder Akshar Patel. Akshar has scored consistently with the bat for Delhi. Despite this, he has been given a chance to bat in the lower order. Advocating to send him in the upper order is continuously being done, but the team management has not taken any decision on this till now.

The bat of experienced Manish Pandey has also been silent till now. Mitchell Marsh has played an inning of 63 runs in just one match. If Delhi has to do something special against RCB, then the Indian batsmen of the team led by Warner and Marsh will also have to shoulder the responsibility.


RCB's batting is also a problem after opening
Batting is not only a problem of Delhi but also of RCB. Apart from captain Faf Duplessis and Virat Kohli, no other batsman is able to handle the responsibility. This is the reason why coach Sanjay Bangar has called Kedar Jadhav, who is doing commentary, to join his game. Even in bowling, Mohammad Siraj is not getting help from any other bowler. RCB have two spinners in Karn Sharma and Wanindu Hasaranga but they are yet to see their best.


Possible playing-11 of both the teams

Delhi Capitals: David Warner (Captain), Philip Salt (Wicketkeeper), Mitchell Marsh, Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Akshar Patel, Ripple Patel, Aman Hakim Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Faf Duplessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror/Suyash Prabhudesai, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Wanindu Hasaranga, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood.

(pc amarujala)