The second offering in the Indian Premier League on Saturday is our first effective dead rubber of the tournament as the Delhi Daredevils host the Royal Challengers Bangalore in a battle of the bottom two at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
Mathematically these two can still catch the sides in the playoff spots but 16pts are usually needed to get into the top four and neither of these two can get to that number so pride is the overriding thing at stake here.
Delhi Daredevils
It has been a season of two halves in terms of performances for the Delhi Daredevils but their results have been remarkably consistent in that they’ve lost far too many. Their batting has really found its feet since Prithvi Shaw came in and Shreyas Iyer took over the captaincy but they just can’t stem the flow of runs against them.
It isn’t for the want of trying either. Ponting has tried plenty of combinations to make something happen this term but it just hasn’t. It might just be that they put their eggs into the Kagiso Rabada basket and when he was ruled out of the tournament with injury before it began they were struggling and that is how it has played out.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
We probably need to start talking about how overrated this Royal Challengers Bangalore side is becoming. This is their second horrendous campaign on the trot and Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers or not this side should be doing a whole lot better than they are. They just can’t find a sustained pressure on the opposition with the ball.
Questions must also start being asked of their ‘Super Coach’ Daniel Vettori who seems to have a wretched record at every side he coaches yet amazingly he continues to get work. It might be that with no pressure of competitive results on their shoulders the gun players in this side show their worth now but it would be too little and far too late.
Team News
I guess when the Sunrisers Hyderabad and their batting line up chase down more than 180 for the loss of just one wicket the bowling attack needs to be changed. It might be time to give the likes of Mohammad Shami, Jayant Yadav and Sandeep Lamichhane a run out.
Royal Challengers Bangalore actually looked better balanced in their side last time out but they still lost. Quinton de Kock is back in the country now and could return at the top of the order.
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Betting
I’m not going to bet on the outcome of this match. Guessing motivation and things like that in what is effectively a dead rubber is not really my thing and in truth neither of these sides are trustworthy with the ball anyway.
That last point should play nicely into the hands of a high scoring match though. There are powerful batsmen everywhere we look in this match which is good and if anything the wickets in Delhi are getting better for batting. With no pressure on either side both can play with a freedom they’ve been looking for which with the talent on show should equate to a high scoring contest.
Tips
WON – Back Over 336.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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