After unbeaten run halt, DC eye quick fixes against inconsistent RR

New Delhi, Apr 15: With their unbeaten streak over and the top ranking in the points table not theirs anymore, Delhi Capitals (DC) will look to make quick fixes and strengthen their chances for an IPL 2025 playoffs spot when they face an inconsistent Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday.

RR hold a slight edge against DC in the head-to-head record, with the inaugural IPL winners emerging victorious in 15 matches while losing 14 games. As far as RR’s record in New Delhi is concerned, they have won five times while losing on seven occasions.

Expectations were high for DC to keep their winning streak going as they returned to their original home ground on Sunday. But the Mumbai Indians had other ideas, cleverly using the ball change rule to cause a DC batting collapse after the halfway mark and consigning the hosts’ to a dramatic 12-run defeat.

Despite the loss, what would have gladdened the DC think tank was impact player Karun Nair shining brightly with a breathtaking 40-ball 89 in his first game of the tournament. With proper execution of scintillating shots, especially against Jasprit Bumrah, Nair was clearly a man on a mission – to make DC win – till he was outclassed by a Mitchell Santner jaffa.

With Faf du Plessis being hampered by injuries and Jake Fraser-McGurk having a lean run, Nair stepping up for DC came as a big boost. But if du Plessis returns against RR, how the DCC top order would look surely makes for an interesting watch.

The key for DC will be for their middle and lower order to step up with backup strategies, especially after MI outclassed them with the ball change rule. From a bowling perspective, barring Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam, others were expensive, and they have some work to do in stopping themselves from leaking runs aplenty.

Meanwhile, RR are coming to New Delhi after getting a nine-wicket thrashing at the hands of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Jaipur. A major issue for RR has been their batting hasn’t clicked as a unit, and the lack of batting depth in the side isn’t helping their cause either.

At Jaipur, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel stepped up to take the side past 170, but they would have liked more from captain Sanju Samson, who struggled to adapt to the demands of a slow pitch and had a slow start in the powerplay.

Samson had raised a stroke-filled 86 in New Delhi last year, though it ended up in a losing cause. But memories of that scintillating knock should inspire Samson to play a leading hand in RR going one step further on Wednesday and put his side’s IPL 2025 campaign back on track.

With the ball, Jofra Archer has been RR’s power-play lynchpin, but his takedown by Phil Salt’s clean striking effectively sealed the game in RCB’s favour. Barring Archer and left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya Singh, all bowlers recorded an economy rate of 10 and above. With the stadium having short square boundaries, RR’s bowling unit will have to recalibrate its plans if they are to get the better of a hurt DC on their home turf.

Squads –

Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel (captain), Faf du Plessis, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Mitchell Starc, Vipraj Nigam, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Ashutosh Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Sameer Rizvi, Karun Nair, T. Natarajan, Darshan Nalkande, Dushmantha Chameera, Donovan Ferreira, Ajay Mandal, Manvanth Kumar, Tripurana Vijay, and Madhav Tiwari.

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (captain & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kunal Singh Rathore, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Kwena Maphaka, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Ashok Sharma, and Vaibhav Suryavanshi.