Virat Kohli and his Royal Challengers Bangalore will play their last match of IPL 2017 against Delhi Daredevils without AB De Villiers, who is away on national duty for South Africa. The two teams are set to meet in Delhi on Sunday.
There were great hopes from RCB in IPL 2017, after a splendid performance last season, but they failed miserably. Likewise, with DD having some incredibly talented bowlers, and quality Indian youngsters in the camp, were billed as the teams to watch out for. But, DD also failed.
The two teams meet for the last match of the group stages on Sunday. DD and RCB will hope to end the season on a high, which means fringe players might not find a place in the playing XI. Both teams will field their best available players.
With no De Villiers, Royal Challengers Bangalore might play Shane Watson, who missed the last game against Kolkata Knight Riders. His all-round skills will be needed against Delhi Daredevils.
RCB are less likely to tinker much with the playing XI. However, RCB players will have to deliver in their final match.
For Delhi Daredevils, they have not been able to find a good replacement for Chris Morris in the all-rounder department. Though Corey Anderson has been up to the mark, Marlon Samuels and Carlos Brathwaite failed.
Since Samuels didn't fare well in the last match, Brathwaite might get a start today. His big hitting skills will come handy against RCB.
One of the major problems for DD has been their lack of consistency.
The likes of Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant need to take responsibility and score runs to end the campaign with a bang. Pat Cummins, Mohammed Shami and Zaheer Khan also need to come good in front of the home crowd.
Confirmed playing XI
Delhi Daredevils: Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Corey Anderson, Marlon Samuels, Pat Cummins, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan (c), Shahbaz Nadeem, Mohammed Shami
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Chris Gayle, Vishnu Vinod (wk), Travis Head, Kedar Jadhav, Sachin Baby, Shane Watson, Pawan Negi, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal
