The Delhi Capitals face the Rajasthan Royals in match 30 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Here's the analysis.
The SWOT for DC
Strengths: The bowling has been great with Kagiso Rabada as the tournament's leading wicket-taker with 17 scalps. Rabada has also never gone wicketless. Anrich Nortje has got eight scalps. Axar Patel, R Ashwin and Marcus Stoinis have got six each.
Weaknesses: An injury to Rishabh Pant has considerably weakened DC’s batting. In their last match, DC played Ajinkya Rahane and Alex Carey and they didn't make an impact. Shikhar Dhawan hit his first half-century in that match but the innings was far from convincing. And Shreyas Iyer only has one fifty so far. The batting needs to get much better.
Opportunities: Iyer may play Carey and Rahane again. Can they come good this time? Carey, in particular, can be devastating on his day.
Threats: The DC bench strength will be tested. Amit Mishra is already ruled out and R Ashwin just came back from injury. Pacer Ishant Sharma has also been ruled out. Pant is out for at least a week. The rest of the team have to be extra careful now to guard against injuries.
The SWOT for RR
Strengths: RR's Indian players have found some form and delivered some wins. Rahul Tewatia has been the star in two stunning comebacks and Riyan Parag impressed with the bat in the last match. Pacer Kartik Tyagi has also been decent in the limited opportunities he's got so far.
Weaknesses: RR’s overseas players are some of the best around but they haven’t lived up to expectations. Steve Smith hasn’t got going in the last few matches and Jos Buttler has just one fifty. Ben Stokes just joined the team without match practice. And Oshane Thomas is unused.
Opportunities: RR will be high on confidence after a stunning comeback against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. A weakened DC could provide an opening to get on a winning roll.
Threats: Every match for RR is important. They will need at least four to five more wins to fight for a play-off spot.
Head to head:
Matches played: 21
Delhi Capitals: 10
Rajasthan Royals: 11
Last five matches (most recent first):
Delhi Capitals: L-W-W-W-L
Rajasthan Royals: W-L-L-L-L-W
What happened in the reverse fixture?
The Delhi Capitals got a 46-run win last time and R Ashwin was the man of the match with some crucial wickets.
Deccan Herald’s Dream XI
Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Steve Smith (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Marcus Stoinis, Rahul Tewatia, R Ashwin, Jofra Archer, Kagiso Rabada, Harshal Patel
Team news
Pant needs at least a week to recover. And fast bowler Ishant Sharma is out of the IPL with a muscle tear. There are no injury concerns for RR.
Ground conditions
The temperature will be around 28 degrees celsius. The humidity will be about 25%. The sky will be hazy with winds in the evening.
DC's impact player
Marcus Stoinis: The Aussie all-rounder has got six wickets and scored 175 runs with two fifties. He is vital for DC’s continued success.
RR's impact player
Jofra Archer: He has bowled with a fiery pace and has clocked eight of the 10 fastest deliveries this season. He provides early breakthroughs and plugs the flow of runs. He needs to improve his death bowling, however.
How to watch
The match will be broadcast live on the Star Sports network. Viewers can also catch the action online on Disney+Hotstar. The match begins at 7.30 PM IST.
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