The second part of the double header of action in the Indian Premier League on Saturday sees two big sides who are lower down the table than they would like meeting when the Delhi Capitals take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium.
Both teams begin the day in the bottom half of the table so it goes without saying that they will have plenty of desire for a win in this match. Whoever does win it will have themselves sitting nicely enough as we head to the halfway mark.
Delhi Capitals
I think the Delhi Capitals’ sluggish start to the season will be the most surprising but I suspect it could be a bit of a hangover from the way the previous campaign ended when they were the table toppers but couldn’t make their way through to the final. Those kind of things can linger, especially when there has been a shorter turnaround and when different players have to bed in and things like that. We should be through the bedding in and delayed reaction stage though so it would be wise to expect Delhi to deliver the goods sooner rather than later.
The positive for Delhi is that they go into this match off the back of their best effort so far this season where their batting unit delivered a strong performance and although they weren’t quite as watertight with the ball as they would have liked they got the job done against a powerful Kolkata batting order. That win was significant because the other win was against the Mumbai Indians whose season hasn’t really got going.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
It has been an up and down campaign for the Royal Challengers but they have three wins to two losses and while I’m sure they would have liked a wider gap between wins and losses, they are at least part of the logjam on six points and a win here will leave them sitting in a very handy position. You could forgive Bangalore the inconsistent start because they are under a new captain and as I highlighted prior to the season they have players coming in a bit late from international commitments.
The concern that the Royal Challengers will have will be with their bowling unit. Twice in five matches they have surrendered more than 200 runs in an innings and that isn’t a trend they will want to continue. Harshal Patel misses out through injury now though so there is a fear that they might surrender some runs at the end of an innings which could be significant. Bangalore are at full strength with their batters though which is a positive.
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Key Players
Mitchell Marsh is expected to make his seasonal bow for the Delhi Capitals in this match. He ended 2021 and started 2022 in amazing form in T20 cricket with him leading the Australian assault on the T20 World Cup and then playing well in the Big Bash. The Capitals will want more of that here.
Josh Hazlewood could be a key man for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. I always think you need to get stuck into this Delhi batting order early or else it can get away from a team very quickly. Hazlewood could be the man to deliver the goods.
Betting
There are a couple of Australian players likely to be in this Delhi Capitals side so if Wanindu Hasaranga can get at them he is likely to get a little bit of joy, which makes me think that his performance line of 34.5 points is well worth attacking. We saw at the T20 World Cup how good the Sri Lankan leggie is and he has started this competition in a positive manner as well which is appealing given that this is his debut season in the IPL.
Hasaranga already has 10 wickets in the tournament and a couple here will see us home and dry with his performance. In an ideal world he would bat higher for this Bangalore outfit but there is every chance that with no Harshal Patel that Bangalore will concede more runs which will give him a better chance of getting to the crease. He is an overseas player so he will likely field in important positions so there is enough scoring potential for the Srii Lankan to cover this total.
Tips
Back W.Hasaranga’s Performance – Over 34.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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