Delhi, RCB look to end their batting woes as Kotla awaits Kohli’s homecoming

New Delhi: Coming on the back of improbable wins, both Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore will not want to leave anything to chance and put up a better batting display in a crucial IPL contest here on Saturday.

While RCB are better placed than Delhi in the standings, the Faf du Plessis-led side can’t afford any slip ups as the IPL reaches its business end.

Delhi, who have had a tournament to forget up till now, needed something to go their way and it did in the low-scoring thriller against table leaders Gujarat Titans.

Back in action after three weeks, pacer Khaleel Ahmed and veteran Ishant Sharma got Delhi out of a hole and kept them alive in the competition.

After a win like that, the morale of any team would be on the higher side but Delhi will need to find a way to bat well against the star studded RCB.

Skipper David Warner was at pains to explain their batting troubles after the previous game. The performance of Indian batters remain a big concern but the effort of Aman Hakim Khan and Ripal Patel after a batting collapse offers hope to the struggling outfit.

Phil Salt at the top has either gone boom or bust in the four chances he has got so far while Warner has not got runs in his last three innings.

The captain’s strike rate has also been a subject of debate but that can be attributed to the collective batting failure of the side.

Batting at three, Priyam Garg looked out of place against high quality fast bowling and he would want to prove his doubters wrong.

Delhi Capitals: David Warner (captain), Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Hakim Khan, Abhishek Porel (wk), Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, Rovman Powell, Rilee Rossouw, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahaman, Chetan Sakariya, Mukesh Kumar, Phil Salt, Lungi Ngidi, Praveen Dubey, Lalit Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vicky Ostwal, Ishant Sharma, Manish Pandey, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Yash Dhull.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (captain), Akash Deep, Finn Allen, Anuj Rawat, Avinash Singh, Manoj Bhandage, Michael Bracewell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Siddarth Kaul, Virat Kohli, Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Wayne Parnell, Harshal Patel, Suyash Prabhudessai, Rajan Kumar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Karn Sharma, Himanshu Sharma, Sonu Yadav, Vijaykumar Vyshak,

David Willey.