New Delhi: Already knocked out of the tournament`s play-off stage, Delhi
Daredevils have just pride to play for but Royal Challengers Bangalore
have a lot at stake when the two teams clash in a Pepsi IPL match on
Friday.
In a complete contrast to their last year`s performance,
Delhi have not looked even a pale shadow of themselves. With nine
defeats from 12 matches, it has only gone from bad to worse for the home
side.
In the current scenario, however, they can play without
any pressure. There is no burden of expectations on the misfiring
batters and out-of-sorts bowlers. They now have nothing to lose and can
just go on to play party-poppers.
Delhi`s top order has failed
for inexplicable reasons. Neither Virender Sehwag nor captain Mahela
Jayawardene has lived up to their reputations. Australian left-hander
David Warner is the only one who has done his bit.
Bangalore, who
may still be recovering from a rude David Miller shock, cannot afford
to take a step wrong as the fight for the play-offs is tight.
Sitting
at the top, Chennai Super Kings are almost assured of a berth in the
knock-out stage but there is a close battle among Mumbai Indians,
Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals for the remaining
three slots for the play-offs.
In their last four matches at the
league stage, Bangalore play three against teams already out of the race
-- Delhi, Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab.
So, before
they clash with strong contenders Chennai in their last match on May 18
before the play-offs, Bangalore would look to consolidate their position
in these matches.
However, it may be tricky for Bangalore since
laggards Delhi, who have nothing at stake, may come up with a surprise
performance on their day and may spoil their chances.
Batting is
not a worry for Bangalore. They have been consistently scoring in the
vicinity of 200 while batting first and have chased the targets easily
with Chris Gayle in his explosive best form.
But the way they
were blown away by the Miller storm in their last match against Kings XI
Punjab, bowling is certainly a concern for them.
For the four
matches in a row, the Bangalore side have conceded more than 170 runs --
against Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan, Pune Warriors and Mumbai Indians.
West
Indies paceman Ravi Rampaul has been brilliant upfront and at the death
overs but R P Singh and R Vinay Kumar have proved expensive.
The best thing for Bangalore bowlers is that they are up against a struggling batting line-up.
The Teams (From):
Delhi Daredevils:
Mahela Jayawardene (C), Virender Sehwag, David Warner, Umesh Yadav,
Manpreet Juneja, Ashish Nehra, Naman Ojha, Irfan Pathan, Andre Russell,
Kedar Jadhav, Ajit Agarkar, Johan Botha, Unmukt Chand, Morne Morkel,
Shabaz Nadeem, Ben Rohrer, Royston Dias, Muralitharan Gautam, Sidharth
Kaul, Jeevan Mendis, Yogesh Nagar, Sujeet Nayak, Pavan Negi, Aristh
Singhvi, Roelof van der Merwe, Venugopal Rao and Gulam Bodi.
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Virat Kohli (C), A B de Villiers, Abhimanyu Mithun, Abhinav Mukund,
Andrew McDonald, Arun Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara, Chris Gayle,
Christopher Barnwell, Daniel Christian, Daniel Vettori, Harshal Patel,
Jaidev Unadkat, K P Appanna, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, Moises
Henriques, Murali Kartik, Muttiah Muralitharan, Pankaj Singh, Prasanth
Parameswaran, R Vinay Kumar, Ravi Rampaul, Rudra Pratap Singh, S
Aravind, Sandeep Warrier, Saurabh Tiwary, Sheldon Jackson, Sunny Sohal,
Syed Mohammad, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Vijay Zol, Zaheer Khan.