Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore 55th Match Prediction

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Delhi Capitals

For the first time in the competition, the probability of Delhi Capitals not qualifying for the next round seems pretty realistic. With a defeat against Mumbai Indians, Delhi's losing-streak extends to four matches and they'll now need a terrific effort in the upcoming match. Not only did they lose against Mumbai Indians, but the margin of loss also put a heavy dent on the Capitals' chances as the Capitals dropped below Kings XI Punjab in terms of the net run-rate.

It was not long ago when Delhi Capitals were flying high and looked favorites to qualify for the next round. They defeated Chennai Super Kings for the second time in 2020 and it has been a downfall for them ever since. With four back to back losses after that win, Delhi Capitals now seem to be running out of steam and are now in a position where nothing short of a win will do.

In the last four matches, Delhi Capitals have had all sorts of problems. Their batsmen failed to fire in unison, their bowlers failed to hit their mark, and a few reckless changes certainly disturbed the balanced they had in the first half of the tournament.

With Prithvi Shaw failing to control his temper yet again, the question about his selection in the upcoming match is out again. Delhi Capitals have struggled to show intent at the top of the order and while Shaw might be the right choice to address that issue, but the fact that the Capitals are losing too many wickets too quickly forces them to look towards Ajinkya Rahane. Rishabh Pant has looked like a mere shadow of himself and has so far been unable to hit boundaries at will. In totality, Delhi Capitals have not only lost too many wickets at the top but have also failed to up the ante in the death overs in their recent matches. This is certainly the biggest concern that their management will be occupied to solve.

While they have done pretty well with the ball in the tournament, their bowlers looked pretty off-color in the last couple of matches. Sunrisers Hyderabad were pretty severe on Kagiso Rabada and Co. and it wasn't too different for the Capitals' bowlers when they were defending a paltry total against Mumbai Indians. Barring Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, and Ravichandran Ashwin, the Capitals' bowling has looked out of sorts of late. Besides RCB does not have too many left-handers at their disposal and we might see Axar Patel coming in for Praveen Dube, who did pretty well against Indians.

Delhi have a lot of issues to resolve and they need to resolve those quickly. Their batting has lacked intent and their bowlers have failed to hit the right channels in the recent matches. Besides, Shreyas Iyer hasn't really been tactically correct when operating under pressure. The good thing for them is that their opponents for the upcoming match are also going through similar problems. Given that, if Delhi Capitals are able to resolve the impending issues, they have high chances to get on the roll once again.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore, just like their opponents, have dropped from an impeccable position on the points table to a position from where they need a win to qualify. They too have been making a lot of changes to their playing eleven and that hasn't really helped the players to understand their role. While RCB is still placed on the second spot on the ladder, a loss in the upcoming match and a few results not going their way will throw them out of contention.

Just a couple of matches ago, Royal Challengers Bangalore replaced Aaron Finch with Joshua Phillipe to provide their innings a thrust in the powerplay. While the move seemed to have worked and Joshua has done well at the top, the other batsmen have failed to play their part in the recent matches. Their losing streak is now of three matches and one thing that was common in those three matches was a poor performance by their batting. While RCB's performance in the last three matches has been poor, they have been pretty unfortunate that they had to deal with dew in two of those three matches.

As apparent from recent results, Royal Challengers Bangalore's batting depends heavily on AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli to deliver the lusty hits in the death overs. However, both those batsmen failed to do that in RCB's last three matches as RCB failed to put even a par score on the board. Also, removing Shivam Dube from the playing eleven seemed to be a poor change as now the Challengers do not really have anyone coming in after number four who can tonk the ball long and hard. They have Chris Morries, but he is known more for his bowling than his batting.

In addition to RCB's poor performance in the middle overs, the inability to pick up wickets with the new ball has hurt them the most. Contrary to their first ten fixtures wherein the Challengers' seamers picked 32 wickets between them, their seamers could only pick four wickets in the last three matches. With seamers not firing at the top, their opponents can afford to play Chahal out, who has looked RCB's only wicket-taking option.

Going into the upcoming match, we don't expect Virat Kohli to make too many changes to the playing eleven. However, he will likely bring in Shivan Dube for Gurkeerat Singh Mann as Dube adds to RCB's hitting ability at the death, the ability which they have lacked in the last few matches.

In the last few matches, Royal Challengers Bangalore have been a little too top-heavy with the bat and have depended heavily on Yuzvendra Chahal to pick wickets. However, with the likes of Morris, Udana, Saini, and Sundar, Kohli has a plethora of options who can be pretty good with the ball in hand. Royal Challengers Bangalore need AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli to fire now more than ever and if they manage to do that, their team will have excellent chances to sail into the playoffs.