After Virat heroics, Bangalore look to seal berth in playoffs

Winning infuses unbridled buoyancy in a team, and Virat Kohli will attest to that. The RCB skipper made his own luck against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the rain-affected match on Friday and it not only firmed up their playoff hopes, it also put an end to an unwanted run. A defeat would have been a hat-trick of reverses against the rivals.

Kohli was keen to regain touch — form wasn’t an issue but risky shots had led to dismissals — and he did. Friday night provided the kind of competition he was craving for. RCB still need to defeat the eliminated Delhi Daredevils in Sunday’s final league game to ensure they are not caught in any mathematical mess to qualify.

However, the players know it is purely up to them to win and go through. RCB’s batting prob-

BANGALORE:

lem has been in the middle order, though young Sarfaraz Khan has clicked occasionally.

The other concern is poor weather, which has chased RCB this season. Four of their matches were affected by rain. Although they didn’t win all of them, it has prepared them to get the strategy right.

Delhi lie second from the bottom but would still try to prove that they can upstage major rivals, like they did CSK. Yuvraj Singh, skipper JP Duminy and Angelo Mathews have struggled, but Zaheer Khan has emerged late in the season, displaying vintage skill. Bangalore was the address of Yuvraj and Zaheer and whether they can shine at the home ground of their former team will be of interest. While most teams — at least six of them — with fancy their playoff chances and do the calculations, DD have something else to work out --- what went wrong and where. Can they defeat RCB and sign off with some positive this season?