Big picture: RR eye crucial points
DC’s hopes of making the playoffs appear very slim after going through a strange sort of season – scoring their highest IPL score ever only to lose the game, possessing a bowling attack with great variety but often coming undone when it mattered most. Middle-order issues, the initial injury and unavailability of Mitchell Starc and the poor form of Kuldeep Yadav have all combined to overshadow the gains they’ve made. If Axar Patel’s men lose on Sunday, they will be out of the playoffs race.
Delhi Capitals: WLLWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Rajasthan Royals: LLWLW
Team news: Parag back in action?
Parag hit the nets in the lead-up to this game. There is a decent chance he’ll slot right back in the RR XII. DC are likely to trust KL Rahul to carry the top order and for Kuldeep Yadav to find his groove because the options they have for those spots seem limited.
Delhi Capitals (probable): 1 Abishek Porel, 2 KL Rahul (wk), 3 Sahil Parakh, 4 David Miller, 5 Ashutosh Sharma, 6 Axar Patel (capt), 7 Tristan Stubbs, 8 Madhav Tiwari, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Lungi Ngidi, 12 Mukesh Kumar
Rajasthan Royals (probable): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 3 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 4 Riyan Parag (capt), 5 Donovan Ferreira, 6 Shubham Dubey, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Ravi Bishnoi/Yash Punja, 10 Nandre Burger/Adam Milne, 11 Brijesh Sharma, 12 Tushar Deshpande
In the spotlight: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tristan Stubbs
Stats and trivia: Watch out for Archer vs Miller
Pitch and conditions: Big runs expected
Batters should enjoy the pitch set to be used for the game. In four of the last five matches played on it, the first innings total has exceeded 180. The one time it didn’t was when DC got bowled out for 75 against RCB last month. Also, three of the last four games on this surface have been won by the side batting first. An extremely hot day is on the cards with temperatures hitting a high of 42°C.
“When you play Rajasthan Royals, I think [Sooryavanshi] is the prized wicket and you want to get him out early because you know the damage he can do if he stays at the crease long enough”
Delhi Capitals assistant coach Ian Bell gives big ups to RR’s 15-year-old opener
