New Delhi, April 26 (NationPress) Excitement and optimism will fill the air at the Arun Jaitley Stadium when the Delhi Capitals (DC) clash with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in a pivotal IPL 2025 match this Sunday evening.

Both teams are evenly matched with 12 points each, although DC holds a slight edge over RCB due to their superior net run rate and fewer defeats. Historically, RCB has triumphed in six out of ten encounters against DC in New Delhi, indicating a close competition in their batting and bowling strategies.

According to data from Cricket-21, RCB boasts a better strike-rate of 161 and a run-rate of 9.7 during the batting power-play, in contrast to DC's 155 and 9.3. This advantage is primarily attributed to the stellar performances of Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal. However, DC excels in the middle and death overs.

With the prowess of KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Tristan Stubbs, and Ashutosh Sharma, DC registers a strike-rate of 152 and a run-rate of 9.1 in the middle overs, surpassing RCB's 139 and 8.3. In the final five overs, DC's performance is remarkable with a strike-rate of 205 and a run-rate of 12.3, again eclipsing RCB's figures of 190 and 11.4.

In their previous meeting at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Rahul's unbeaten 93 and Stubbs' unbroken 38 rescued DC after a shaky start, propelling them to a remarkable victory.

Given the spinner-friendly conditions at Kotla, which features a speedy outfield and compact dimensions, DC will rely on their strong middle-order batting to challenge RCB’s formidable top order. Bowling-wise, the narrative remains similar with slight variations.

RCB has a stronger economy rate of 8.3 and has taken more wickets (15) than DC's 9.8 economy rate and 12 wickets in the powerplay. Although RCB has one more wicket in the middle overs, DC maintains a better economy rate of 8.5 compared to RCB's 8.8.

In the death overs, RCB again leads with 17 wickets against DC's 14, but DC has a superior economy rate of 9.5 compared to RCB's 10. In what could be a high-scoring affair, the outcome of Sunday’s match may hinge on the bowlers' performances.

DC will count on Axar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, and Vipraj Nigam to perform under pressure, while RCB will rely on Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krunal Pandya, and Suyash Sharma, celebrating their first home victory of the season.

Upon arriving at Delhi airport, RCB fans quickly flocked to greet their star player Kohli, who has achieved six IPL fifties at his home ground and will undoubtedly be the focal point on Sunday.

It will be intriguing to see if Kohli's fanfare will overshadow the burgeoning support for Rahul, who left RCB and Chinnaswamy in awe with his stunning batting and animated 'this is my ground' celebration.

The DC-RCB clash in New Delhi promises to be a nail-biter, as both teams showcase nearly equal strengths in batting and bowling stats. Come Sunday, amidst a backdrop of high hopes and tense anticipation, this thrilling match will unfold with only one team celebrating at the end.

When: Sunday, April 27 at 7:30 pm IST

Where: Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi

Where to watch: Live telecast on Star Sports network and live streaming on JioHotstar.

Squads:

Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel (captain), Faf du Plessis, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Mitchell Starc, Vipraj Nigam, Karun Nair, Ashutosh Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sameer Rizvi, T. Natarajan, Darshan Nalkande, Dushmantha Chameera, Donovan Ferreira, Ajay Mandal, Manvanth Kumar, Tripurana Vijay, and Madhav Tiwari.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Rajat Patidar (c), Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Dar Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Abhinandan Singh, Romario Shepherd, Lungi Ngidi, Nuwan Thushara, Mohit Rathee, Swastik Chikara.