New Delhi, April 26 (). The 39th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 is to be played between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Monday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. In this match, DC will try to improve its position in the points table with a win. At the same time, another win will further strengthen RCB’s claim to retain the championship title.
Delhi Capitals is at seventh position in the points table after losing 4 out of 7 matches. This team has won against RCB by 6 wickets in the match played on 18 April. On the other hand, RCB has won 5 out of 7 matches. This team is present at the second position in the points table. RCB is eyeing to win this match and once again take the number-1 position.
This match on Monday will be between the two best in-form batsmen of the tournament. While on one hand RCB has Kohli who is in great form, on the other hand DC will hope that KL Rahul will once again take the lead with the bat.
Kohli needs just 11 runs to become the first batsman to score 9,000 runs in IPL history. As such, the stage is all set to add another new chapter in its long and memorable relationship with this historic ground. Kohli’s average on this ground has been 66.8, which includes seven half-centuries in 11 innings.
In all the five wins that RCB has won this season, the ‘Player of the Match’ award has gone to five different players. The team’s fast bowling attack is at its best at the moment, led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood. Both these bowlers have performed well in every phase of the match.
Talking about batting, Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar and Tim David are all in excellent form. This season, the specialty of RCB has emerged that they have been completely capable of increasing and maintaining the pace of the game throughout their innings.
On the other hand, DC is a team which had to face defeat in the last match and is now trying to come together again and make a comeback. KL Rahul played a brilliant inning of unbeaten 152 runs in 67 balls against Punjab Kings, although his innings played on Saturday afternoon failed to lead the team to victory.
Another good thing for DC is that Nitish Rana has also returned to his form and has scored two consecutive half-centuries. Lungi Ngidi’s head injury has left a big void in the team’s fast bowling department, and Dushmantha Chameera is likely to be included in the squad as cover in his place. Fielding has also been a matter of equal concern. DC have dropped 16 catches this season and their catching efficiency has been 60 percent, which is the lowest among all teams.
If DC are to win, they will need strong performances from both Axar and Kuldeep, and will also have to hope that their batting line-up can stand up to the challenge of RCB’s disciplined bowlers. RCB, who are in excellent form, have had the upper hand against DC. So far 34 matches have been played between the two teams, in which RCB won 20 and 13 matches were in favor of DC. One match remained inconclusive.
Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel (captain), KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Karun Nair, David Miller, Pathum Nissanka, Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Nitish Rana, T. Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Ashutosh Sharma, Dushmantha Chameera, Lungi Ngidi, Vipraj Nigam, Sahil Parakh, Prithvi Shaw, Abhishek Porel, Ajay Mandal, Tripura Vijay, Madhav. Tiwari, Auqib Nabi Dar, Mitchell Starc and Kyle Jameson.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Rajat Patidar (captain), Virat Kohli, Tim David, Jacob Bethel, Romario Shepherd, Josh Hazlewood, Nuwan Thushara, Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Rasikh Dar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jordan Cox, Suyash Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Swapnil Singh, Jacob Duffy, Kanishk Chauhan, Abhinandan. Singh, Mangesh Yadav, Phil Salt, Satvik Deswal, Vicky Ostwal, and Vihaan Malhotra.
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