Delhi Capitals (DC) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) will face off for their final group match of the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi on Saturday. The home team has enjoyed a great season, and will be aiming for a finish within the top two places of the IPL Points Table with a win. RR, on the other hand, will need to win their last match and also hope results go their way in other matches to stand any chance of qualifying for the playoffs. For RR to go through, SunRisers Hyderabad need to lose their match against Royal Challengers Bangalore and neither Kolkata Knight Riders nor Kings XI Punjab can win both their remaining matches.
RR will miss the services of skipper Steve Smith. Smith has headed back to Australia to join the rest of his teammates to prepare for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup.
DC will also be without fast bowling spearhead Kagiso Rabada.
One key player who will have all eyes on him will be Shreyas Gopal. Having spun a web over the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers so far in the tournament, he will now look to showcase his skills against the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant. The slow and low wicket at the Kotla will definitely help his case.
The last time the two teams met, while Gopal foxed Dhawan and Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane had scored a brilliant century. But DC rode on the back of Pant's 36-ball 78 to register a six-wicket win.
Squads:
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Rishabh Pant (wk), Colin Ingram, Chris Morris, Sherfane Rutherford, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Hanuma Vihari, Colin Munro, Ankush Bains, Jagadeesha Suchith, Manjot Kalra, Keemo Paul, Jalaj Saxena, Rahul Tewatia, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Nathu Singh, Bandaru Ayyappa, Sandeep Lamichhane.
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Sanju Samson (wk), Riyan Parag, Ashton Turner, Stuart Binny, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni, Prashant Chopra, Manan Vohra, Aryaman Birla, Rahul Tripathi, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shashank Singh, Liam Livingstone, Shubham Ranjane, Mahipal Lomror, Ish Sodhi, Varun Aaron, Oshane Thomas, Sudhesan Midhun.
Match starts at 4 pm IST
(With IANS inputs)