Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis returns for Delhi Capitals (DC) while England’s batting all-rounder Jacob Bethell has been handed a debut in the IPL as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) won the toss and elected to bowl first in match 46 of the ongoing tournament at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday.
The winner of this game between second-placed DC and third-ranked RCB will replace Gujarat Titans (GT) at the top of the points table. The last time these two teams met in the tournament, KL Rahul smashed an unbeaten 93 to take DC to a stunning six-wicket win over RCB at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 10.
After winning the toss, RCB captain Rajat Patidar said Bethell replaces his countrymate Phil Salt, who is down with fever. “The wicket is quite good to bat on and I don't think it's going to change too much and we like to chase. It's our first win at our home and we will try to continue playing good cricket. In every match, we are trying to improve, so we want to keep learning,” he said.
Du Plessis, meanwhile, is back for DC after missing last four games due to a groin injury. Captain Axar Patel said he would have preferred to bat first if he had won the toss, and that the Impact Player will be decided accordingly in the match, with Ashutosh Sharma slotted in impact substitutes. “In the last game (against RR), there was no dew but in the game against Mumbai, there was some dew.”
“They (LSG) had two foreign batters at the top so I wanted to bowl against them. I was bowling with a good rhythm, the plan wasn't to bowl four overs in a row but I kept bowling so I continued with it,” he said.
Sunday’s match will be played on pitch number four at the stadium, which was used in DC’s clash against Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 13, which the visitors won by 12 runs. The pitch report by broadcasters said the surface looked very dry, with live grass not available. Square boundaries are at 58m and 66m respectively, while straight boundary stands at 71m.
Playing XIs
Delhi Capitals: Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel, Karun Nair, KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel (captain), Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mukesh Kumar
Impact Substitutes: Ashutosh Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Jake Fraser McGurk, Madhav Tiwari, and Tripurana Vijay
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Jacob Bethell, Rajat Patidar (captain), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, and Yash Dayal
Impact Substitutes: Ashutosh Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Jake Fraser McGurk, Madhav Tiwari, and Tripurana Vijay
Also Read: LIVE Cricket Score
Article Source: IANS