IPL 2018: Match 45, Delhi Daredevils vs Royal Challengers Bangalore – Expectation vs Reality

The second encounter of Saturday (May 12) will find two teams in dire straits facing off against each other. The hosts, Delhi Daredevils are looking at the end of their journey in the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), owing to back to back crushing defeats. On the other hand, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are an equally distraught side, having failed to live up to the expectations they’d created at the outset of the tournament.

Although the match is pretty much a dead rubber encounter, it’ll be interesting how each side tries to recoup and salvage some pride in the last stage of the tournament. While DD have 2 more matches to go in the group stage of IPL 2018, RCB still have 3 games remaining after this encounter. The two sides are at the very bottom of the points table with 6 points apiece. Before the real action begins, here’s a sneak-peek at what we’re expecting from the match.

Brendon McCullum to bring on some fireworks with the bat

A recent fan-made calculation table that went viral showed immaculate calculations as to how RCB can still make it to the playoffs. Indeed, it would hinge on the outcomes of the other teams to a great extent. In spite of that, if the Virat Kohli-led side has to have a shot at making that distant dream come true, their top order will have to fire from the word ‘go’ and who better to do it than Brendon McCullum!

McCullum had caused a stir when he’d been drafted into the RCB side, with expectations running high to see some brilliant batting from him. However, he’s had an underwhelming tournament so far, to put it mildly. With just 127 runs in 6 games. RCB’s last match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) saw the batting order, barring  Parthiv Patel fail miserably in chasing down a total as low as 147 runs. Hence, it can be expected that McCullum will replace Manan Vohra to open the innings against DD and it’d be a good time for Baz to bring out his batting genius.

Trent Boult to display his bowling prowess

The Shreyas Iyer-led DD side is looking at a humiliating exit from the IPL 2018 with just a handful of wins against their name. In order to rectify that, their bowling unit has to step up and deliver. The young trio of Pant-Iyer-Shaw has been consistently contributing with the bat and against RCB, Kiwi speedster Trent Boult can be expected to unleash his lethal bowling skills.

As it is, Boult has been the most successful bowler for the side this year, with 13 wickets in 11 matches to his name. However, that’s not been adequate to win them matches and Boult would have nasty memories of their last game against SRH, where he got hit for 43 runs in just 3.5 overs, without a single wicket. He’ll look to redeem himself and utilise the home conditions to his favour to dismantle RCB’s middle-order which has been the latter’s Achilles’s Heel throughout the competition.

Here’s the reality right after the match..

Pant and Abhishek star for Delhi

Delhi have been blessed with some amazing young talent this season. While their star overseas players have failed to stand up, the youngsters are just climbing the ladder with every game. Rishabh Pant, as usual, continued to thrill the fans with his brilliant batting and scored 61 off just 34 deliveries. While his knock was once again going in the vain, the 17-year-old Abhishek Sharma just blazed away with 46 runs taking on the likes of Tim Southee in the death overs and propelled the score of DD to 181 runs.

ABD-Kohli show

Finally, the two of the best players in the world batted together and treated Ferozshah Kotla crowd with their special knocks. Both added 118 runs for the third wicket and put RCB in command. While Virat Kohli scored 70 off 40 balls, AB de Villiers remained unbeaten until the end on 72 and steered his side to a victory. Also, another debutant Sandeep Lamichhane bowled beautifully and impressed everyone in his debut game and is set to play the remainder of the tournament for Delhi.

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