Delhi Daredevils will be looking to start afresh after a horror outing in the last edition where they finished bottom of the table.
They had a poor start to the season losing their first six matches. This time around they would look to make amends and start off on a winning note. But they face an uphill task in their opener. They are up against an ominous
Royal Challengers Bangalore side in Sharjah. Delhi didn't retain any of their players and used the
Right-To-Match cards to buy back Kevin Pietersen, Shahbaz Nadeem and Kedar Jadhav. It's going to be a daunting task for Delhi considering the fact that Royal Challengers Bangalore have one of the most feared batting line-ups in the tournament with the likes of
Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, AB de Villiers. Gayle was the second-highest run-getter in the last edition. Skipper Kohli has been in form of his life of late and de Villiers can decimate the opposition single-handedly with his big hitting prowess. Yuvraj, for whom Bangalore shelled out a whooping Rs 14 crore, making him the most expensive player in the auction, will be looking to silence the critics after a dismal performance in the World T20.
It will be a big challenge for the Delhi bowlers; their bowling line-up doesn't look threatening. The pace department consists of Wayne Parnell, Mohammad Shami and Nathan Coulter-Nile. The spin department is weak, with Shahbaz Nadeem and Rahul Sharma likely to lead the line. They will bank on their batsmen to deliver the goods but the injury to skipper Kevin Pietersen just before the game has come as a huge blow and he will miss the tie.
Dinesh Karthik, their costliest buy (12.5 crore), will lead the side. He had a pretty good last season with Mumbai Indians and in Pietersen's absence will be the batsman to watch out for.
Their pace bowling department is a bit of a worry, only one of Mitchell Starc or Ravi Rampaul will get a place in the starting eleven.
Ashok Dinda and
Varun Aaron cannot be relied upon with their tendency to leak runs. Bangalore will be banking on their batting line-up, just like Delhi. There is nothing to chose between the two sides going by the past records as both have won five games each with one ending in a tie. But this time around, it's going to be a tough ask for Delhi especially with Pietersen out. Bangalore start off as clear favorites.
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