Delhi Capitals’ chances of qualifying for the IPL 2024 playoffs suffered a massive setback after their captain Rishabh Pant has been suspended for one match for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct after his team maintained a slow over-rate during the match against Rajasthan Royals in the national capital on May 7.

As a result, Pant will miss the crucial fixture against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday.

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Additionally, Pant has also been fined Rs 30 lakh while the rest of the members of the DC playing XI of that game, including the Impact Player, have also been individually fined either Rs 12 lakh or 50 percent of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser. This was Pant’s third over-rate breach this IPL.

According to a BCCI statement, DC filed an appeal challenging the ruling of the match referee as per Article 8 of the IPL Code of Conduct, following which the appeal was referred to the BCCI ombudsman for review. The ombudsman conducted a virtual hearing and affirmed that the match referee’s decision remains final and binding.

Along with Pant, DC’s director of cricket Sourav Ganguly, head coach Ricky Ponting and CEO Sunil Gupta appeared on behalf of the team for the hearing.

In the appeal, DC cited multiple reasons for the delay, including that RR batters had hit 13 sixes on the day and that the controversial Sanju Samson dismissal decision had consumed extra time. However, it was ruled that there was no statistical information submitted explaining exactly how much time was additionally consumed by these events.

Each team in the IPL is allowed 85 minutes (4.25 minutes per over) to complete their 20 overs of the innings. In the match against RR, DC took 117.82 minutes to complete their 20 overs, which was in violation of the minimum over-rate requirements under the Code of Conduct.

The Capitals are currently fifth in the IPL points table and need to win all their remaining two fixtures to be in contention for a playoff spot, and will be up against a resurgent RCB, who are on a roll after recording convincing victories in their last four games.

In the absence of Pant, DC will expect some of their senior players to collectively lead the side to a win and keep them in the hunt. It surely won’t be a cakewalk for the visitors as Pant has been a driving force behind the team’s success, and thus the onus will be on the likes of Jack Fraser-McGurk, Abhishek Porel and Tristan Stubbs to do the heavy-lifting in the batting department.

McGurk, who has teed off to make 309 runs from seven matches at an impressive strike-rate of 235.87, ever since replacing the veteran David Warner, whose 167 runs from 7 matches at a strike rate of 135, has made a huge difference in the overall outcome. With shorter boundaries at the Chinnaswamy, the RCB bowlers could be at the receiving end of McGurk’s fury, and that could be lethal to the home team’s outside chances of making the top four.

The other DC opener Abhishek Porel too has made runs at 157 strike rate, but will be expected to add more consistency to his game. Stubbs too have been among runs and in Pant’s absence, he will be the key factor in adding meat to the DC total.

In the bowling department, DC will bank on the spin twins — Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, who share 24 wickets among them while maintaining impressive economy rates of 8.2 and 7.3 respectively. Their combined eight overs will have a massive say in the match, as the pace battery comprising Khaleel Ahmed (14 wickets, 9.68) and Mukesh Kumar (15 wickets, 10.94) have been largely inconsistent.

On the other hand, the RCB are currently on a roll after recording four straight wins but can’t afford to sit on their past performances against an unpredictable DC. The Faf du Plessis-led outfit are currently seventh with 10 points from 12 matches, and will bank on yet another collective effort to keep them alive.

Both Faf and his opening partner Virat Kohli are in good nick, with the latter, the leading run-getter in this IPL with 634 runs but, more importantly, those runs have come at a brisk rate of 153, giving RCB early momentum while setting or chasing targets. Along with the opening combo, the likes of Rajat Patidar, Cameron Green and Dinesh Karthik have provided their bowlers, who have responded to the call splendidly, with a cushion.

The bowling unit has also shown considerable improvement in their last four outings with Mohammed Siraj regaining his peak form finally. This also augurs well for the T20 World Cup-bound Indian team as Siraj is one of the only three frontline pace options. He has been complimented well by the likes of Yash Dayal and left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh in the last few games, and the RCB management will hope they continue in the same vein against DC.