Royal Challengeers Bangalore will begin defending their home fort at Bengaluru against Delhi Daredevils who have been as hit by injuries as RCB. However, being the first game for Delhi under the watchful eyes of Rahul Dravid, they will hope for a better IPL this season.
Royal Challengers
Bangalore
Bengaluru on the other hand is smarting from a humiliating loss at the hands of defending champions SRH in the tournament opener at Hyderabad. They have been hit by injuries to Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and KL Rahul and their bowling is missing someone by the name Mitchell Starc. They gave a chance to Aniket Choudhary, but Yuvraj Singh hit him to all parts of the ground and Sreenath Arvind fared no better as the batsmen read his tendency to bowler slower and slower and were ready to dispose him into the crowd.
They would like to introduce some pace in their bowling by bringing in Adam Milne and give Chahal some help by having Shamsi assist him, as he looks the only bowler who opposition respects.
Delhi Daredevils
Delhi are under a new coach in Rahul Dravid and despite missing the services of JP Duminy and Quinton de Kock for the whole season, they will want to start on a positive note. They have strengthened their bowling quite a bit and would like skipper Zaheer Khan to lead from the front along with Amit Mishra. Batting will depend on Sam Billings, Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant. Their bowling is bolstered by addition of Kagiso Rabada and a fit again Mohammad Shami.
Toss: RCB won the Toss and opted to bat
Delhi Daredevils (Playing XI): Sam Billings, Aditya Tare, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant(w), Carlos Brathwaite, Chris Morris, Pat Cummins, Shahbaz Nadeem, Zaheer Khan(c), Amit Mishra
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Vishnu Vinod, Kedar Jadhav(w), Shane Watson(c), Stuart Binny, Pawan Negi, Iqbal Abdulla, Tymal Mills, Yuzvendra Chahal, Billy Stanlake
