The Delhi Capitals on Monday named former South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis as vice captain of the franchise ahead of the Indian Premier League 2025.
Thursday’s washout in Hyderabad meant that Sunrisers Hyderabad joined Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals as the three confirmed teams for the playoffs and the race is now for only one spot with two teams in fray -- CSK and RCB.
With mere 13 league stage games to go in this year’s Indian Premier League, no team is officially eliminated from the race to the playoffs but having said that, the next couple of days could be crucial for a few teams, especially the ones at the bottom-half of the IPL 2024 points table.
It was only three days back when the Punjab Kings outclassed CSK by seven wickets at Chepauk, considered their fortress.
The recent struggles of Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals, have given a glimmer of hope to the teams at the bottom of the IPL points tally, and thus both RCB and GT will be aware of the importance of the upcoming tie.
Having lost their previous match against Delhi Capitals, the Titans find themselves at the seventh position on the IPL points table with eight points from nine matches, and a victory over RCB will keep themselves in the race for the play-offs.
The Sunrisers have already breached the 250-mark thrice this season, and the carnage at the M Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru will be still fresh in the minds of the RCB fans as they prepare for the reverse fixture at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Languishing at the bottom of the IPL points tally, the Faf du Plessis-led side can’t afford any more hiccups, and will now have the daunting task of winning all their remaining seven games to keep their playoff prospects alive.
A contest against a floundering RCB could not only bring about their second successive win but also provide them the cushion of confidence, before facing defending champions Chennai Super Kings.
Currently tottering at the 8th place in the 10-team IPL standings, RCB have two points from three matches, and alarmingly their net run rate has plummeted to -0.71 after a heavy defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders in their previous outing at home last week.
