<p>Bengaluru: Before this season’s IPL could start, lots of questions were asked about the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. How will the crown of being the defending champions for the first time weigh on them? Will the sale of the franchise affect their performances? Can the team reach the same heights as last year? Would veterans like Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood be able to deliver in an energy-sapping tournament? And much more.</p>.<p>With one-third of the season gone — five games to be precise — the Royal Challengers have answered all those questions in such an emphatic fashion that there is genuine hope of them securing their spot in the playoffs, although there are plenty of miles to be covered and cricket to be played in a tournament where fortunes and momentum can swing rapidly.</p>.<p>The top and middle-order comprising Kohli (228), Phil Salt (139), Devdutt Padikkal (135) and Rajat Patidar (222) have come out firing all cylinders, with Kohli, despite battling illness in the previous two games, holding the Orange Cap. Each one of them, including finisher Tim David (147), has made significant contributions at various stages, giving the batting a brutal look. </p>.RCB look to strengthen top-two spot against SRH.<p>In terms of bowling too — which was for a long time their Achilles Heel — they have hit the straps. The 36-year-old Bhuvneshwar has turned the clock back again with seven scalps, while the rest of the pack like Krunal Pandya (7), Jacob Duffy (6), Rasikh Dar (5), Suyash Sharma (4) and Hazlewood (3) have chipped in nicely for the Royal Challengers.</p>.<p>Now, they’ll be hoping all of them click once again on Saturday at the Chinnaswamy Stadium when they take on a smarting Delhi Capitals in their first afternoon fixture of this season. While Royal Challengers arrive for the game buzzing with confidence following two rousing wins after the chastening defeat against Rajasthan Royals, Delhi check in with two successive defeats — one an avoidable one-run defeat to Gujarat Titans where David Miller refused a single off the penultimate ball and another a 23-run hammering at the hands of Chennai Super Kings.</p>.<p>Royal Challengers will be looking to follow the same template against Delhi, with Kohli likely to play anchor and the likes of Salt, Patidar and Padikkal expected to tee off from the word go. The batters have understood the tricky Chinnaswamy surface — it has been offering spongy bounce at the start before settling down nicely — better for the first time and they’ll be hoping for another strong evening.</p>.<p>Delhi will be desperate to arrest their slide after a strong start. A key member in their first two wins was the ravishing knocks by 22-year-old Sameer Rizvi who cracked 70 not out and 90. Just when the sound of the UP all-rounder’s talent started to grow louder, Rizvi has fluffed the lines, managing just 0 and 6 in his next two innings. Bizarre as it may sound, the youngster’s two failures have had a direct impact on their two losses.</p>.<p>DC have a lot more talent — world-class in fact — in their line-up and they’ll be hoping to rise up against a Royal Challengers unit playing some wonderful cricket.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: Before this season’s IPL could start, lots of questions were asked about the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. How will the crown of being the defending champions for the first time weigh on them? Will the sale of the franchise affect their performances? Can the team reach the same heights as last year? Would veterans like Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood be able to deliver in an energy-sapping tournament? And much more.</p>.<p>With one-third of the season gone — five games to be precise — the Royal Challengers have answered all those questions in such an emphatic fashion that there is genuine hope of them securing their spot in the playoffs, although there are plenty of miles to be covered and cricket to be played in a tournament where fortunes and momentum can swing rapidly.</p>.<p>The top and middle-order comprising Kohli (228), Phil Salt (139), Devdutt Padikkal (135) and Rajat Patidar (222) have come out firing all cylinders, with Kohli, despite battling illness in the previous two games, holding the Orange Cap. Each one of them, including finisher Tim David (147), has made significant contributions at various stages, giving the batting a brutal look. </p>.RCB look to strengthen top-two spot against SRH.<p>In terms of bowling too — which was for a long time their Achilles Heel — they have hit the straps. The 36-year-old Bhuvneshwar has turned the clock back again with seven scalps, while the rest of the pack like Krunal Pandya (7), Jacob Duffy (6), Rasikh Dar (5), Suyash Sharma (4) and Hazlewood (3) have chipped in nicely for the Royal Challengers.</p>.<p>Now, they’ll be hoping all of them click once again on Saturday at the Chinnaswamy Stadium when they take on a smarting Delhi Capitals in their first afternoon fixture of this season. While Royal Challengers arrive for the game buzzing with confidence following two rousing wins after the chastening defeat against Rajasthan Royals, Delhi check in with two successive defeats — one an avoidable one-run defeat to Gujarat Titans where David Miller refused a single off the penultimate ball and another a 23-run hammering at the hands of Chennai Super Kings.</p>.<p>Royal Challengers will be looking to follow the same template against Delhi, with Kohli likely to play anchor and the likes of Salt, Patidar and Padikkal expected to tee off from the word go. The batters have understood the tricky Chinnaswamy surface — it has been offering spongy bounce at the start before settling down nicely — better for the first time and they’ll be hoping for another strong evening.</p>.<p>Delhi will be desperate to arrest their slide after a strong start. A key member in their first two wins was the ravishing knocks by 22-year-old Sameer Rizvi who cracked 70 not out and 90. Just when the sound of the UP all-rounder’s talent started to grow louder, Rizvi has fluffed the lines, managing just 0 and 6 in his next two innings. Bizarre as it may sound, the youngster’s two failures have had a direct impact on their two losses.</p>.<p>DC have a lot more talent — world-class in fact — in their line-up and they’ll be hoping to rise up against a Royal Challengers unit playing some wonderful cricket.</p>