IPL 2015: Daredevils hope to spring a surprise on RCB

NEW DELHI: In the last game against Mumbai Indians, at the fall of Shreyas Iyer's wicket in the 17th over, the Daredevils promoted Angelo Mathews up the order ahead of Yuvraj Singh.
Full coverage: Indian Premier League 2015
The move was prompted by Mathews' ability to better negotiate his Sri Lankan teammate Lasith Malinga's deliveries. Also, with only 20 balls left for the Daredevils innings to get over, the team management decided to demote Yuvraj since he takes five or six balls to settle down.
The move paid off as the first ball Mathews faced from Malinga was hit for a boundary. The all-rounder eventually scored 17 off just eight balls and took Delh's score to 190. Mumbai lost by 37 runs.
But there are no hard and fast rules in T20 cricket and teams have to keep changing strategies to stay a step ahead. The last three or four overs are extremely crucial and more often than not, how things pan out in that period with bat and ball has an outcome on the result. Friday's match between Rajasthan Royals and the Royal Challengers Bangalore - who will play Delhi at the Kotla on Sunday evening - is a case in point. The Royals were 119/5 at the end of the 17th over and the second spell from Mitchell Starc changed the entire complexion of the game.
After giving away 16 runs in his first two overs, Starc took the wicket of Smith just when the latter was on the verge of cutting loose. The left-arm fast bowler from Australia, who was adjudged man of the tournament in the 2015 World Cup, then dismissed Stuart Binny, effectively putting an end to Royals' hopes of a comeback.

RCB captain Virat Kohli and his explosive teammate AB de Villiers then batted the Royals out of the match, and they will be looking to do the same against the Daredevils on Sunday. Delhi's own Kohli will try to produce a special one for the crowd. It may not be easy, since after losing nine consecutive matches at the Kotla, Delhi have finally broken the jinx. There is a spring in their step now. And with some of the Indian recruits like Shreyas Iyer doing well at the top of the order, there are hopes this team can do better than the previous seasons.
DD, Kotla await full-house bonanza
It will be a full-house at the Ferozeshah Kotla - after more than two IPL seasons - when Delhi Daredevils play Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday. With Delhi winning three matches out of six and showing more consistency than past seasons, it seems fans are flocking back to the stadium to watch them play. Plus, there's the added attraction of watching Delhi boy Virat Kohli and stars like AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle turn out for RCB.
Sources said the Daredevils may end up making over Rs 4 crore or more from this one game. Two years ago, Delhi were making similar amount from full-house matches at the Kotla but ticket prices haven't gone up much since.
In the 40,000 capacity Kotla, 60% of the tickets were sold through the Internet and 20 ticket-distributing centres across the city. "We have sold out all the tickets for Sunday's match and expect a similar response in the last home match at Kotla against Punjab," Hemant Dua, the CEO of Delhi Daredevils, said.
Follow TOI Sports on Twitter >>> @TOISportsNews