RCB v DC Prediction: Who will win today's IPL 2020 match
The experts will point at similarities aplenty when it comes to the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Delhi Capitals. The most striking of the lot is the fact that neither franchise has ever won the IPL.
However, this season has started a little differently. Both RCB and DC seem hungrier, and more intent on making up for the years gone by. The two teams have won three out of their first four games and are currently placed second and third on the IPL 2020 points table.
Later today, Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers take on Shreyas Iyer’s Delhi Capitals with a place at the head of the table at stake. A win for either team would see them leapfrog the Mumbai Indians and climb up to first place.
RCB come into this game having beaten a strong-looking Rajasthan Royals side by eight wickets. The most important takeaway from the game, however, has to be the return to form of skipper Virat Kohli.
Chasing 155 for the win, Kohli stitched together a 99-run partnership alongside youngster Devdutt Padikkal before seeing the team home in the company of AB de Villiers. The Indian skipper’s struggles with the bat leading into the game had been well-documented and in fact, Kohli had failed to even hit a boundary in the first three games of IPL 2020.
DC, on the other hand, play their first game since their introduction to the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. A match-winning 38-ball 88 from Shreyas Iyer saw them post 228/4 on the board, a total that eventually proved a bit too much for the Kolkata Knight Riders outfit on the day.
Shreyas Iyer was ably supported by Prithvi Shaw, who scored a half-century himself, and Rishabh Pant. The likes of Anrich Nortje and Harshal Patel were also heartwarmingly economical on a ground that has been seen as a bowlers’ graveyard in the tournament so far.
With the top spot on the IPL 2020 table at stake, this Bangalore v Delhi fixture could be one for the ages.
IPL 2020: RCB v DC Match Prediction
In what has been something of an anomaly in recent years, the Royal Challengers seem to have improved on several aspects of their bowling this time around. An all-round performance from their bowling unit saw RR restricted to 154/6 after it looked like Jos Buttler could cause problems early on.
While Virat Kohli did manage to strike form in the game against RR, it is young Devdutt Padikkal who has made heads turn so far this season. Add to that the fact that AB de Villiers arrived in the UAE in great touch, and has already hit a couple of half-centuries early in the tournament.
DC too have started the tournament on a much brighter note than what their fans would have grown to expect. The likes of Shreyas Iyer and Prithvi Shaw have impressed early in the tournament, whereas the Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer and Rishabh Pant are due strong runs with the bat.
From the bowling perspective, the game will feature two bowlers that are battling it out at the top of the list for the Purple Cap. RCB’s wily leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and DC’s deadly fast bowler Kagiso Rabada are currently tied at top-spot in the wicket-takers list at IPL 2020 with eight wickets apiece in four games each.
That said, as a bowling unit, DC can be backed to do better between the two sides given RCB’s tendency to leak runs in the death-overs as the tournament progresses. With the form that the Delhi batsmen find themselves in, we could be in for a run-fest at the back end of the innings.
Although one can expect a close contest between these two high-flying sides, the Delhi Capitals could very well sneak a victory to go to the top of the points table.
Prediction: DC to win today’s match.