Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will look to fill the void left by Harshal Patel when they face Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede in Mumbai on Saturday. There is not much to choose from between the two sides — both have powerful players in their ranks, but as a team they haven’t really been consistent. While RCB ended their three-match winning streak when they went down to Chennai Super Kings in their last game, Delhi downed Kolkata Knight Riders in their last outing to register their second win of the season.
The biggest factor in RCB’s loss to Chennai was Harshal’s absence. The medium pacer, who is away from the team owing to a personal tragedy, has grown into a master T20 bowler who is equally effective in containing runs and making breakthroughs. RCB captain Faf du Plessis missed him when Chennai’s Shivam Dube and Robin Uthappa went hammer and tongs against all the other bowlers.
“You see the value of Harshal, and what he offers. He has the ability to stop the game. We missed that. We lacked the variety we needed in our attack. Hopefully, we can have him soon again,” Du Plessis had rued after their loss to Chennai.
With Harshal unlikely to be back for Saturday’s game, can the RCB attack stop Delhi’s power-hitters? Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep were unimpressive with the ball in the last game and, against an in-form Prithvi Shaw, David Warner and Rishabh Pant, they will not have second chances.
It seems that the RCB batters will have to put in a bit of extra effort to provide their bowlers with some cushion. Captain Du Plessis, former skipper Virat Kohli, Australian Glenn Maxwell and the experienced Dinesh Karthik will play key roles.
Delhi’s bowling is being led by chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, with good assistance from quicks Mustafizur Rahman and Khaleel Ahmed.
While RCB would look to adjust in Harshal’s absence, Delhi might get a big boost if all-rounder Mitchell Marsh is match-ready on Saturday. The Australian has been batting in the nets and the team is optimistic about getting his services against RCB.
