This story is from May 22, 2016

IPL 9: Delhi Daredevils stand in Kohli and Co's way

They splurged liberally at the IPL auction, parted ways with a World Cup-winning coach and brought in an Indian legend to mentor a young group and a new captain was brought in too. All these changes seemed to have had an electrifying, positive effect on Delhi Daredevils in the first half of the season.
IPL 9: Delhi Daredevils stand in Kohli and Co's way
They splurged liberally at the IPL auction, parted ways with a World Cup-winning coach and brought in an Indian legend to mentor a young group and a new captain was brought in too. All these changes seemed to have had an electrifying, positive effect on Delhi Daredevils in the first half of the season.
RAIPUR: They splurged liberally at the IPL auction, parted ways with a World Cup-winning coach and brought in an Indian legend to mentor a young group. A new captain was brought in too. All these changes seemed to have had an electrifying, positive effect on Delhi Daredevils in the first half of the season.
A fresh-looking unit, under the leadership of mentor Rahul Dravid and Captain Zaheer Khan, seemed to be clicking all the right boxes.
The second half, however, was a complete contrast as the Daredevils lost momentum after losing to Rising Pune Supergiants.
Only two victories came from their next five matches, placing them in the bottom half of the table. A last-ball victory on Friday against Sunrisers Hyderabad might have given them two crucial points but that hasn't changed their position -Daredevils continue to be at No. 6 and are up against the seemingly unstoppable Royal Challengers Bangalore in a do-or-die game on Sunday at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Stadium in Naya Raipur.
RCB are peaking at the right time, having won four of their last five matches and boasting the best net run-rate among all teams. RCB Captain Virat Kohli is in the form of his life, notching up a Bradmanesque average in T20s this year. There will be more cheer for Kohli than the `home team' in Raipur.
Stopping Kohli first, and then AB de Villiers, will be the two biggest challenges for the Daredevils. Chris Gayle has struck form in the last two matches. KL Rahul's transformation is a big positive for RCB. Chasing or defending, RCB have been clinical in their last five matches and victory will assure them of a spot in the playoffs.RCB bowlers have also done well in the last few matches but it's more due to the cushion of extra runs provided by Kohli & Co.
Shane Watson and leg-spinner Yazuvedra Chahal, after all, are among the top five wicket-takers in the competition.
Fortunately for Daredevils, when they enter the field on Sunday they will know exactly what they need for a win, since they are playing the last match of the league phase.
Teams (From):
Delhi Daredevils: Zaheer Khan (captain), Quinton de Kock, Jean-Paul Duminy , Mayank Agarwal, Amit Mishra, Sanju Samson, Mohammed Shami, Chris Morris, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Imran Tahir, Shreyas Iyer, Karun Nair, Pawan Negi, Rishabh Pant, Sam Billings, Carlos Brathwaite, Khaleel Ahmed, Akhil Herwadkar, Mahipal Lomror, Chama Milind, Shahbaz Nadeem, Pratyush Singh, Pawan Suyal, Jayant Yadav.
RCB: Virat Kohli (captain), Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Shane Watson, KL Rahul, Sachin Baby, Varun Aaron, Abu Nechim, Sreenath Aravind, Stuart Binny, Yuzvendra Chahal, Travis Head, Iqbal Abdullah, Kedar Jadhav, Chris Jordan, David Wiese, Akshay Karnewar, Sarfaraz Khan, Vikramjeet Malik, Mandeep Singh, Parveez Rasool, Harshal Patel, Kane Richardson, Tabraiz Shamshi, Vikas Tokas, Praveen Dubey.
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