Match facts
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Start time 2000 local (GMT 1430)
Chris Gayle will be looking to make amends after failing to click against Sunrisers Hyderabad © BCCI
Big picture
Sunday night will pit together two teams at opposite ends of the spectrum, at least in how they have built their roster. Royal Challengers Bangalore bulked up their star power, not to mention their sheer power, with the addition of Shane Watson. Delhi Daredevils ignored the big names at the IPL auction and invested in young and untested talent. Only, the M Chinnaswamy stadium is usually a venue that does not leave much room for strategy. Unleash your batsmen and savour the carnage.
The hosts are well stocked in that regard, with Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli at the top, AB de Villiers at No. 3 and Watson at No. 4. That’s 23791 runs and 772 matches of experience in T20 cricket, so it seems perfectly logical to group them in the top four.
It is hard to imagine all of them having a bad day, but Daredevils must hope they do. Zaheer Khan and Amit Mishra have the wiles to trouble most batting line-ups. Chris Morris has the pace. Carlos Brathwaite has potential. But there is a feeling the pitch needs to give them all a little leg up sometimes.
It is not like Royal Challengers are without weaknesses. Considering the short boundaries in Bangalore, their bowling looks like they might need a target of 200 to be effective. With JP Duminy fit again and Quinton de Kock in form, Daredevils will hope to provide their mentor Rahul Dravid a happy homecoming.
In the spotlight
Gayle was in Bangalore a month ago, with the West Indies team at the World T20, but did not bat because of an injury. No such hiccups when he was in Royal Challengers colours; he strode out as their opener against Sunrisers but was bowled around his legs for a duck. Fans who pile into his “home ground” will be expecting more and Gayle tends not to disappoint them too often. A T20 average of 52.60 coupled with a strike-rate of 168.23 at Chinnaswamy stadium is testament to that.
Spin has been used to quiet big-hitting teams enough times for everyone to know Mishra‘s performance will be key for Daredevils. He bases his bowling on old-world virtues of flight and his googly is among the best in the world. A good haul against the Indian Test captain’s IPL team would not hurt.
Team news
Adam Milne, who played his first IPL game on Tuesday, and Yuzvendra Chahal appear Royal Challengers’ best bowlers. The team has opted for a medley of medium-pacers to fill the rest of the overs, perhaps because they do not trust Varun Aaron to be accurate enough.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Shane Watson, 5 Sarfaraz Khan, 6 Kedar Jadhav (wk), 7 Stuart Binny, 8 Parvez Rasool, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Adam Milne, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal.
Daredevils seem quite balanced, but that hinges on their Indian batsmen’s productivity.
Delhi Daredevils (probable) 1 Quinton de Kock, 2 Shreyas Iyer, 3 Sanju Samson, 4 JP Duminy, 5 Karun Nair, 6 Carlos Brathwaite, 7 Pawan Negi, 8 Chris Morris, 9 Jayant Yadav, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Amit Mishra.
Pitch and conditions
There have been more than 650 sixes hit in Bangalore by IPL teams. That should signal how good a batting track the Chinnaswamy stadium usually provides. Clear skies are expected on Sunday, although even the night time temperatures are expected to be in the early 30C.
Stats and trivia
- Daredevils’ last victory over Royal Challengers came in April 2010. Since then they have played and lost eight matches.
- Gayle (64), de Villiers (57.66) and Kohli (70.57) average over 50 each against Daredevils
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo