Playing XI
Top Fantasy Picks - All Rounders
Chris Morris - With 11 wickets in 8 matches, Morris has relatively well with the ball. Little does everybody know that he can be very handy with his quickfire cameos down the order as well.
Marcus Stoinis - Stoinis has scored 239 runs and also taken 8 wickets this season thus proving his worth as an all-rounder. As context, one of his fifty this season (53* from 26 balls) came against Bengaluru.
Washington Sundar - In the last 3 matches Sundar has had opportunities to bat and also did decently. Since he is an off-spinner, he can prove to be crucial as Delhi have 3 left-handers in their batting lineup.
Top Fantasy Picks - Bowlers
Kagiso Rabada - With 23 wickets Rabada is joint highest this season. He might be wicketless in the last 2 matches, but given his record against Bengaluru he can prove his worth today. His record against Bengaluru in the IPL: 3 matches, 10 wickets (4/24, 2/31 and 4/21).
Yuzvendra Chahal - Chahal is the only spinner who features in the top 5 among Purple Cap holders this season with 20 wickets. Stat alert: His bowling performances at Abu Dhabi this season read 2/37, 2/15 and 3/24; i.e. 7 wickets in just 3 matches.
Anrich Nortje - With performances of 1/25, 1/37, 2/27, 2/44 and 2/33 in the last 5 matches, Nortje can be an X-factor bowler in your team. As context, when he played against Bengaluru earlier this season he took 2/22 which included the priced scalp of AB de Villiers.
Top Fantasy Picks - Batsmen & Keepers
Devdutt Padikkal - With 422 runs, he is the 2nd highest run getter for Bengaluru this season. He has played only 3 matches at Abu Dhabi this season aggregating 162 runs (74, 25 and 63) which have come at a SR of 151, thus an interesting pick.
Virat Kohli - Kohli has scored 431 runs, the 6th highest this season. A look at his last 8 matches against Delhi: 43 (this season), 23, 41, 70, 30, 58, 54* and 79; thus proving why he is ever so consistent.
Shreyas Iyer - Iyer has scored 214 runs at a SR of 130 in his last 5 matches against Bengaluru. Also, this season his scores read 47, 42 and 17 at Abu Dhabi. This makes him a player to watch out for as this fixture is at the same venue.
Probable XI
Delhi : Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rishabh Pant(wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Harshal Patel, Praveen Dubey, Kagiso Rabada, Ravichandran Ashwin, Anrich Nortje
Bangalore : Josh Philippe, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers(wk), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Isuru Udana, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal
Preview
It is the battle for Q2! With Mumbai still being the only team to have qualified, Delhi and Bangalore battle it out to become the second team to join Mumbai in the playoffs.
What that could also mean is – the loser could bow out of the tournament. Of course, there are certain permutations and combinations to that. Both teams were almost certain to be two of the final four but both have played inconsistent cricket at the back end of the league stage.
While Bangalore have suffered three losses on the trot, Delhi have been defeated 4 times on the bounce now. The problems seem to be similar for both teams as well, with the batting misfiring and the bowling not quite able to deliver as a unit. One good thing is that one of these teams will find a winning formula on Monday.
Toss : Delhi won the toss and elected to bowl first.