Delhi Capitals face resurgent Rajasthan Royals in a must-win game

Delhi Capitals batsmen Sherfane Rutherford and Shreyas Iyer

Tonight's opponents walk into the match basking in confidence with wins in their previous matches. While Rajasthan Royals won against Mumbai Indians thanks to the partnership between new skipper Steve Smith and the young 17-year-old Riyan Parag, Delhi Capitals come from a win against Kings XI Punjab courtesy of a match-winning partnership between the Indian duo of Shikhar Dhawan and team captain Shreyas Iyer.

Battles to watch out for:

Jos Buttler vs Kagiso Rabada

Jos Buttler is one of the cleanest ball hitting openers in the world right now especially in the T20 format. In the 8 matches he has played for RR this year, he has already scored 311 runs at a great strike rate. It will be interesting to see how he faces the current purple cap holder Kagiso Rabada who has been the best bowler in IPL this season. The 2nd highest wicket-taker Imran Tahir has claimed 16 wickets while Rabada has 21 victims already to his name.

Shikhar Dhawan vs Shreyas Gopal

Shikhar Dhawan has been the one constant performer accumulating 347 runs in 10 innings with three 50+ score and 42 boundaries to his name. Shreyas Gopal has been very instrumental for Rajasthan Royals this season bowling economical spells giving less than 7 runs per over on average and scalping 11 wickets as well.

Tonight's pitch at the Sawai Mansingh offers variable bounce and some pace off the ground. A score of more than 170 can be quite competitive.

Both the teams are not expected to tinker with their winning formula and will be aiming to continue their winning run and consolidate a good position in the league table.

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