The penultimate match of the Indian Premier League regular season takes place on Monday afternoon when the Delhi Capitals take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore in a clash which will see one side secure two spots at making the final and the other precariously hanging to their top four spot by a thread.
The winner here will be guaranteed to finish second in the regular season table and will meet the Mumbai Indians in the postseason opener while the losers could miss out on the play-offs altogether. It is that finely poised.
Delhi Capitals
The good lord only knows how it has come down to this for the Delhi Capitals. They were cruising not just towards the play-offs for the first half of the season but they looked like they were heading for top spot in the table as well but in the last couple of weeks they have come apart at the seams and haven’t yet found a tailor to stitch them back together. This is do or die for the Capitals which might spur their best performance to come out again but there hasn’t been much in terms of signs of confidence recently.
After winning seven of their opening nine matches the Capitals have now lost four on the trot and the really worrying sign for them is that they haven’t really been competitive in any of them. Their top order has failed them on each occasion and their bowling attack has suddenly lost the plot. I don’t think they are being captained all that great but the spinners have lost their potency and the seamers’ plans have gone right out of the window. It would be quite something if we see the best of Delhi here but if we do they are still good enough to win the tournament let alone this match.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
This has been a much improved tournament for the Royal Challengers Bangalore but it hasn’t exactly been convincing by them either. They go into this match in second spot in the table with seven wins to their name but their negative net run rate highlights the sort of campaign it has been for them. Bangalore know that barring a heavy defeat they will be in the play-offs but the opportunity to have two bites at making the final will be their desire from this match.
When you look down the batting order that the Royal Challengers have you think they should be blitzing sides far and wide but that batting doesn’t fire as a complete unit very often and when the top three don’t lay a platform it can crumble quite quickly as we saw last time out. The positive this season is that there has been an improvement in their bowling but even that isn’t completely convincing. They still have the odd brain fade when it comes to selection as well.
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Key Men
Shikhar Dhawan has been all or nothing in recent matches for the Delhi Capitals but if they are going to win this match and earn two goes at making the final they will need the all version of the Indian opener here. I’ve no idea what’s gone wrong with their bowling attack but it isn’t reliable at the minute so runs will be needed.
AB de Villiers has been the best batsman for the Royal Challengers Bangalore this season. Not only is he powerful and fearsome but he is smart with it and being South African he’ll know all about the threat that the Delhi bowlers provide. It would be no surprise if de Villiers provides some fireworks here.
Betting
The boundaries have flowed a little more than I expected them to on this Abu Dhabi ground in recent times but I’m not completely convinced that is a trend that is going to continue. This will be the second consecutive day that the ground has been used so the sun beating down on everything is likely to have slowed the pitches up but even if it hasn’t these two batting line ups aren’t batting with a great deal of confidence or convincingness at the minute.
Delhi Capitals have put in three very ordinary performances with the bat in a row whereas the Royal Challengers Bangalore just got restricted to 120 in their last match. Whether that is the pressure or the going has got tough I’m not sure but there is enough to suggest that this one won’t be laced with boundaries. At some point the Delhi Capitals bowling has to come good again and it has to be here. I can’t be betting on the match outcome when the primary aim for both will be to avoid taking a tonking that will damage their net run rate further but under 37.5 boundaries looks to have every chance if the struggles of the two sets of batsmen continues.
Tips
WON – Back Under 37.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
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