New Delhi: Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru are all set to take on Delhi Capitals in their IPL 2026 clash at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. In his last outing against Lucknow Supergiants, the star batsman Virat Kohli Was deployed as an impact player.Kohli suffered an ankle injury during the win against Mumbai Indians and was ruled out of the second innings, but still contributed 49 runs against LSG.This begs the important question – will Kohli once again be an impact player against Delhi Capitals?RCB have been in impressive form this season, suffering only one defeat, which came against Rajasthan Royals. Also, they have registered dominant wins over Sunrisers Hyderabad, Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Supergiants, placing them second on the points table.Victory in this game could see them climb to the top. RCB also have a favorable head-to-head record, having won 20 of the 33 matches they have played against Delhi Capitals, winning 12, with one match ending in a draw.As for the team combination, Kohli is expected to be fully fit and likely to return as a regular player. However, if the team chooses to manage his workload, he can once again be used as an impact player.After the win against LSG, Kohli admitted that he was still recovering from a knee injury and a brief illness, although he was satisfied with his batting efforts.
“Much better than the last game. I’m still not 100%. I had a little pain in my knee in the last game. Health-wise, I’ve been under the weather for four or five days now. So, just doing my best. Today I started well, so I’m happy with my intensity. Again, would love to continue and finish the game. Sometimes you have to take the situation into account. The pitch slowed down quite a bit, and I just wanted to go that way. But yes, in the end, maybe it should have ended,” Kohli had said after the match against LSG.Teams:Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikal, Rajat Patidar, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunel Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma, Rasheed Salam Dar, Venkatesh Beer, Mangop Singh, Mangesh Beer, South Singh. Josh Hazlewood, Jordan Cox, Nuvan Thishara, Vicky Ostwal, Vihaan Malhotra, Abhinandan Singh, Kanshik Chauhan, Satuk Deswal.Delhi Capitals: KL Rahul (w), Patham Nissanka, Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi, Akshar Patel (c), Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Vipraj Nigam, Lungi Ngidi, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Ashutosh Sharma, Aqib Nabi Dar, Karil Nachman, Doshalam, Starman Jamieson, Ajay Jadoo Mandal, Prithvi Shaw. Tripurana Vijay, Abhishek Poral, Sahil Parkh. Madhav Tiwari.
