IPL 2020 Match 55 DC v RCB Betting Preview

Match Details
Delhi Capitals v Royal Challengers Bangalore
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Monday, November 2nd
16:00 SA Time

IPL 2020: Match 55 – DC v RCB Preview, Prediction, Probable Playing XI and Value bets

Betting Preview

Delhi Capitals (DC) lock horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in an extremely crucial game where both the sides have a second playoff spot at stake. The equation is pretty simple, the team that wins goes straight to play-offs and joins Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 1 and the team that loses will depend upon a host of other results to go their way. Both the teams have had very similar fortunes in the tournament. They had looked one of the strongest sides and were cruising towards a play-off spot at the half-way mark. But a sudden dip of form and a string of losses in their recent games have put both the teams in a state of bother and they can’t afford to make a mistake in this must-win encounter.

RCB comes into the game with three back-to-back losses whereas Delhi has lost all of their last four games. Delhi had looked one of the most balanced sides in the tournament initially and had produced some brilliant all-round performances to dominate the first half of the tournament. The duo of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje had troubled the finest of batsmen and Delhi’s batting had looked strong enough to take on any bowling attack. However, a lot has changed since their last win against CSK and Delhi have lost all of their matches after that. After scoring two consecutive centuries, Shikhar Dhawan has failed miserably ever since and now has two ducks in two games.

Delhi’s top order has all of a sudden started looking extremely unstable and has collapsed in the last three games which has resulted in heavy defeats for their side. The margin of defeats have also dented their NRR significantly. Things have gotten so bad for Delhi that even Rabada and Nortje are proving out to be ineffective and getting hammered by the opposition. Rabada has gone wicketless in their last two games after picking up at least one wicket in each of his 25 games before that. They haven’t been consistent with their playing XI which again has added to the instability in their team. Delhi will find solace in knowing that RCB’s form hasn’t been much better than theirs. They will look to pull their act together and give it their best shot.

Things haven’t been too different in the Bangalore camp and their three-match losing streak is a direct consequence of poor batting performance in all of their last three games. They were looking in a comfortable position to make it to the playoffs for the first time since 2016 but after a couple of bad games, they now find themselves in a crunch situation in a must-win game. RCB is considered to have one of the strongest batting line-ups in the tournament with Virat Kohli and Ab de Villiers in their rank but they have both failed to fire in their recent games and the results are a reflection of that. Devdutt Padikkal has looked impressive and consistently given RCB much-needed solid starts.

The replacement of Aaron Finch with Josh Phillippe has so far worked in their favour as he has added the missing firepower at the top. The team lacks a power-hitter in the lower middle order and thus their innings have failed to flourish in the death overs. The seamers that had looked dangerous in the first 10 games, picking up regular wickets in the powerplay have failed to do so in the last 3 games and Yuzvendra Chahal has emerged as their only reliable wicket-taking option. Apart from Sundar, Chahal and Morris, all of the other bowlers have leaked too many runs. But it is the form of Kohli and ABD that have hurt them the most and RCB needs their most consistent match-winners to find their form now more than ever to lead them to their first IPL glory.

Injury and Availability News

None of the two sides have reported any major injury concerns at the moment. Axar Patel might make a comeback into the Delhi Capitals side in place of Praveen Dubey.

Probable Playing XI

Delhi Capitals

Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmeyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Harshal Patel

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Josh Phillippe, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Washington Sundar, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Chris Morris, Mohammad Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal

Key Players to watch out for

Kagiso Rabada: The joint leading wicket-taker in this IPL so far with 23 wickets in 13 games under his name, Rabada is the fiercest weapon in Delhi’s arsenal. He had a couple of forgetful games against SRH and MI but taking Rabada lightly is a mistake RCB can’t afford to make. He can turn the game around single-handedly with his spells and is likely to trouble an out of form RCB batting line up.

Devdutt Padikkal: The second-highest run-scorer for RCB this season, Padikkal has been consistent at the top giving Bangalore good starts time and again. He has played fearlessly and has shown a lot of promise. He can dominate any bowling attack on his day with his flamboyant shots. He has scored 422 runs in 13 games at an average of 32.46 and is fifth in the list of highest run-scorers this season.

Yuzvendra Chahal: One of RCB’s most consistent performers, Chahal has delivered with the ball every time Kohli has turned to him in crucial games. He has proven out to be RCB’s best wicket-taking option yet again this season and Kohli will look to make optimum use of him in the powerplay to unsettle a dodgy Delhi top-order. He has picked up 20 wickets in 13 games at an incredible average of 17.60 and is only behind Rabada and Bumrah in the purple cap race.

Value Betting

Delhi Capitals

Shikhar Dhawan to be Delhi Capitals top batsman at 2.00

Kagiso Rabada to be Delhi Capitals top bowler at 1.60

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Virat Kohli to be Royal Challengers, top batsman, at 1.80

Yuzvendra Chahal to be Royal Challengers Bangalore top bowler at 1.80

Prediction: Royal Challengers Bangalore to win at 0.68