IPL 2025 | RCB vs DC: Challengers seek win at home turf

Bengaluru: Well, this is unfamiliar. Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru are sitting one and three on the points table after three and four Indian Premier League games, respectively.

Yes, it’s too early in the season to say they’ll go the distance, but they’ve indicated early enough that they’re good enough to stay there for a while longer. Considering these factors, their contest at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Thursday will make for interesting viewing.

Let’s get back to how they’ve managed to get to these positions, though.

Their success has relied on the usual big-time players such as RCB’s Virat Kohli or the Capitals’ KL Rahul and the likes, but a major part of their run has arrived on the wings of those who have executed their roles without much fuss and fanfare.

Take RCB for instance. While Kohli has come up with a couple of visually appealing half-centuries, the batting unit’s load has been distributed evenly enough to compensate for Kohli’s somewhat middling strike rate after the power play.

It’s unlikely that Kohli has it in him - genius aside - to add new strokes to add a dash of nitrous to his striking abilities at this stage of his career, but when you have skipper Rajat Patidar striking it as cleanly as he has the last few games or Jitesh Sharma’s Dinesh Karthik-inspired avatar, RCB don’t need their former skipper to wield the long handle.

This then allows Kohli to play his ‘natural game’, keeping one end up without taking too many risks, and keep the score ticking while the others build around him.

That’s how they managed to post a win against Mumbai Indians in their previous fixture, and it doesn’t look like that strategy, or even the combination, will change.

In the case of the Capitals, Rahul is the one their batting hinges on. He, much like Kohli, doesn’t take too many chances and keeps his strike rate at around 150 to ensure he can stick around long enough to either allow himself the freedom to stretch his hands a bit or at least allow the others coming after him to build on his contribution.

This similarity is found in their bowling strategies/ combinations too.

For RCB, you have Josh Hazlewood hurrying the batters while the wily Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal offer variety. As for the spinners, Suyash Sharma’s leg-break angles create a problem and Krunal Pandya’s pace, length and accuracy have made it difficult for the batters to get under him.

DC have their frontline Australian seamer in Mitchell Starc while Mukesh Kumar and Mohit Sharma rely on their understanding of conditions and utilise their variations to catch batters in awkward positions.

In the spin department, they have a left-arm wrist spinner in Kuldeep Yadav and then you have Axar Patel’s flat spears, curbing batters from opening up.

Speaking of Axar, he has shown a rather unexpected brilliance as a leader. The same with Patidar in his first season at the helm of RCB.

Both these teams seem to have found the same but effective formula to get the job done so far. On Thursday, though, something will have to give.