The Royal Challengers Bangalore play their fifth and final match of the first period in Sports Pundit IPL Fantasy and will look to upset the Delhi applecart in the same. Delhi, on the other hand will want to continue their winning run and extend it to three matches.
The Royal Challengers are on a losing spree that they will need to arrest very quickly if they need to pose any challenge to the rest of teams; more so Delhi, who look pretty at four points off two games. Bangalore seems to have had problems with both, their bowling and their batting; even trying out resting a bowler like Dale Steyn and yet ending up on the losing side.
According to me, SPIFers can afford to get Dale Steyn into the side after he was rested as the side looked a bowler short. To get their foreign quota right, they will need to adjust their four players accordingly. For me Ross Taylor looks the candidate to get the axe despite his reasonable performance against Punjab in the last match. And the contest between Steyn and Virender Sehwag will be something to look out for.
From the batting point of view, the Royal Challengers benefitted greatly from the extra batsman they played at number seven, but it will not be the same again. Rahul Dravid did not click too well, but it shouldn’t be too long before he gets there, while Pietersen himself needs a knock or two to get his confidence going. Time is running out for the skipper, as a leader and a batsman both, and that would be bothering KP. Bangalore has four or five matches for him to prove that he had rightly earned the right to earn the million and a half bucks, and this could be the match to begin.
Delhi is on another planet. Last year their main issue was their middle order which did not click making it very imperative for the openers in Sehwag and Gambhir to do well. This time around, it is the Tillakaratne Dilshan-A.B. de Villiers combination which should make it easier for the DareDevils.
It is difficult to visualise de Villiers score another century, but the thing that needs to be watched out for is that he has been on a run-scoring glut even before this tournament – against the mighty Aussies – which makes it imperative to give him a think.
Glen McGrath hasn’t played a game, but it is only a matter of time before he actually does that, I can bet on one fact for sure, that he will be itching to gun for the opponents’ heads. Avishkar Salvi’s performance in the last game almost certainly means that he will need to sit out, and Yo Mahes may get a look-in. The problem currently that Delhi may face is that all their four foreign players who featured in the last match had a good game, and it could just be difficult getting anyone out!