Indian T20 League 2023

DEL vs BLR, 50th Match

Preview

The 50th match of the Indian T20 League will be played between Delhi and Bangalore at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. The game is scheduled for Saturday, May 6 at 7:30 pm. 

Delhi is at the bottom half of the points table with only 3 wins in nine matches and Bangalore is on the 5th place with 5 wins in those many games. 

Delhi is in a win-win situation to book a slot in the top four. They managed a fantastic win against the defending champions in their last match against the Gujarat franchise in a low-scoring thriller. Aman Khan’s 51 off 44 balls guided his team to a decent total of 130 runs on the sluggish pitch of Ahmedabad. Mohammad Shami led the bowling attack for Gujarat and picked up a four-fer along with Mohit Sharma who took two. 

Gujarat batters were in sublime touch but eventually failed to get hold of the situation at the end. Skipper Hardik Pandya smashed 59 runs off 53 deliveries but all went in vain as the team lost by a mere margin of 5 runs in a last-ball thriller. Khaleel Ahmed and Ishant Sharma shared two wickets each along with Kuldeep and Nortje picking one a piece. 

Bangalore managed a comfortable victory by an 18-run margin in their last game against Lucknow. The match was more than a game as a scuffle broke out between the Lucknow head coach Gautam Gambhir and ex-Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli, following the latter’s argument with Naveen-ul-Haq during the match. This game was also a low-scoring encounter at the Ekana stadium in Lucknow. Only three batters scored in two digits from the entire Bangalore squad. Openers Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis scored 31 and 44 runs respectively giving the team a perfect start but later other batters failed to convert it into a big total. Karthik was the only other batter scoring 16 runs, coming down the order. Bangalore managed to post 126 runs, losing 9 wickets at the end of 20 overs. Naveen-ul-Haq took 3 wickets along with Ravi Bishnoi and Amit Mishra picking two scalps each to restrict Bangalore to a low-scoring total. 

While chasing the target, Lucknow in the absence of their skipper KL Rahul failed to get a good start. Krishnappa Gowtham (23 off 13) was the only batter scoring above 20 runs. The Faf du Plessis side performed exceptionally well with the ball in hand as they managed to bowl out the opponents with one ball remaining. Josh Hazlewood and Karn Sharma picked two scalps each and Siraj, Maxwell, Hasaranga and Harshal Patel took one wicket apiece to defend the total and bring a stunning victory to the Bangalore camp by 18 runs.

Delhi and Bangalore clashed off in the 20th match of this season’s Indian T20 League in which the Faf Du Plessis-led side fetched victory by 23 run margin. Some of the talking points from the game were Virat Kohli and Manish Pandey were the only players from both teams to score half-centuries. Both sides would try to bring on some positive from this encounter to get a lead in this reverse fixture. 

Match Details

Match: DEL vs BLR, 50th Match, IND T20 League 2023

Date: Saturday, May 6, 2023

Time: 07:30 PM

Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi

Pitch and Weather Report

Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium is a superb place for the batting side to settle down and focus on the game. Shorter boundaries and a speedy outfield make it simple for the batters to score runs. Unfortunately, there is very little scope for the pace bowlers because of the sluggish surface. Yet, the wicket offers the spinners significant aid, and they have a successful track record on this ground.

The sky will have some patches of cloud on the match day. The maximum and minimum temperatures will be between 36°C - 24°C. The surface assists the batting department in the 2nd inning of the game.

DEL vs BLR Squads

DEL: David Warner (c), Mitchell Marsh, Yash Dhull, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Aman Hakim Khan, Lalit Yadav, Abishek Porel (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman, Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Kumar, Praveen Dubey, Sarfaraz Khan, Chetan Sakariya, Ishant Sharma, Rilee Rossouw, Khaleel Ahmed, Lungi Ngidi, Philip Salt, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ripal Patel, Vicky Ostwal, Rovman Powell

BLR: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Suyash Prabhudessai, Wanindu Hasaranga, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood, Harshal Patel, Sonu Yadav, Michael Bracewell, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Shahbaz Ahmed, Akash Deep, Finn Allen, Siddarth Kaul, Manoj Bhandage, Wayne Parnell, Rajan Kumar, Avinash Singh, Himanshu Sharma, Kedar Jadhav

DEL vs BLR Probable Playing XIs

DEL: David Warner (c), Philip Salt (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Aman Hakim Khan, Ripal Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed

BLR: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Suyash Prabhudessai, Wanindu Hasaranga, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood 

Match Prediction

By analysing the performance of both sides so far this season, we can see that Bangalore have a clear advantage to win this match. They have a stronger batting department and one of the best opening pairs who have been quite consistent this season. The team also has a good bowling attack to rattle the opponent batters. In spite of all these reasons, we are going in for Delhi to win this encounter, as they will be craving to win matches in order to keep their hopes alive in the Indian T20 League 2023.

Top Fantasy Picks

Axar Patel has shown some signs of confidence and determination when most of his teammates were struggling with the bat and ball. He is currently the second-highest run-scorer for the Delhi franchise and is a perfect player to get a slot in your team. 

The African pacestar Anrich Nortje is one of the prime fast bowling options for the Delhi franchise and is expected to bring some early breakthroughs for his side at home. 

Faf du Plessis has been in great touch in this year’s Indian T20 League. The Bangalore skipper has registered 175 runs in the last three matches at a strike rate of 173.26.

The Indian run machine Virat Kohli has grown up playing cricket at the Firoz Shah Kotla and has a good track record against Delhi. He is also in sublime touch right at the moment and is someone to look for in this match.

Risky Captaincy Choice

Kuldeep Yadav will also play a crucial role in this match as he is currently the leading wicket-taker for Delhi and is also very economical. Also on this slow pitch, no batter would enjoy facing spinners, this is where we think he is the perfect choice for this role.

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