With all eyes of Delhi Daredevils fan again on Sehwag for their revival, his past record may worry any time. But Royal Challengers Bangalore have less to worry considering their performances this season. Points Tally show them winning only 3 but even both their defeats were very close to winning. Considering the fire power RCB stands favorite, unless Sehwag fires.
History
Until 2010 edition RCB has managed to win only one match against DD, after losing 5. But since Gayle’s arrival and grabbing ex-DD duo Dilshan and AB de Villiers, RCB has won all the three matches of the last two editions.
Head-to-Head: DD 5, RCB 4
2008
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DD def RCB by 10 Runs
DD def RCB by 5 Wickets
2009
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DD def RCB by 6 Wickets
RCB def DD by 7 Wickets
2010
- DD def RCB by 17 Runs
DD def RCB by 37 Runs
2011
- RCB def DD by 3 wickets
2012
- RCB won by 31 runs, MOM: AB de Villiers
RCB won by 21 runs, MOM: Gayle
IPL Performances
DD has reached semifinal in 2008 and 2009, but failed to complete a hattrick of semifinals in 2010. In 2008 and 2010 they won 7 and lost 7 matches, but in 2008 they have one abandoned match also. In 2009 they won 9 and lost only 7. In 2011, they finished at the bottom with 4 wins and 9 losses. But in 2012 they bounced back by going on top of the table to enter knockout, but the result there was again same as they failed to enter the final even in their third attempt.
RCB reached the semifinal 2010 and final in 2009 and 2011. 2008 was a forgettable experience with 7th place finish. While 2008 saw them winning 4 but losing 10, 2009 finalists won 9 and lost 7. In 2010 they won 8 and lost 8 to finish as 3rd. In 2011 they topped the group but lost the final, overall winning 10 and losing 6. 2012 saw them being left out of the knockout despite being one of the favorites as based on NRR they fell behind CSK.
2013 Performance
RCB is on the second position behind MI. They have won 3 and lost 2 very close matches, where one went to Super Over and other one had them celebrating until they realized that RP Singh has bowled the worst-timed no ball of IPL, if not entire Cricket history.
DD on the other hand has their points column empty after losing record 4 consecutive matches, first time for them to lose so many consecutively.
Overall Performance
Considered the third best team of IPL now after CSK and MI, RCB has 42 wins, and 40 losses.
On the other hand DD has won 39, lost 31, with two matches producing no result.
Who Will Win Today!!
The match can be decided by the fiery trio of both teams. While the trio of RCB (Gayle, Kohli and AB) is on fire, DDs trio (Warner, Sehwag and Mahela) is yet to join the party as so far Warner is fighting the lone battle unsuccessfully and Sehwag failed in his first game.
The local players of both teams are not firing with bat, except Mayank Aggarwal upto some extent for RCB. The million dollar buys of both teams Irfan Pathan and Saurabh Tiwary are major failure with bat.
The bowling unit that can stop the trio or ties the trio so that they score less runs, as compared to the other trio wins the game for their team. Delhi has some effective bowlers in Morne Morkel and Nadeem. Even Irfan is impressive in the initial few overs. How good is he really in initial overs can be seen when he bowles to Gayle today. Botha, Umesh Yadav are also generally good and wicket taking options.
On the other hand Vinay Kumar is the spearhead of RCBs bowling attack and has not only won them games but also grabbed the Purple Cap to accompany Kohli’s Orange Cap. Unadkat provides him good support while Henriques has made his owners proud with bat and ball both. Muralitharan and Murali Kartik are also not so expensive so far.
Yet, overall DDs bowling has more teeth to show. Their only problem is unimaginative captainship of Mahela in using the bowlers. Given the current situation, although DDs chips are down, RCB may find it difficult to win the game.
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