If Bangalore fought well in the field and somehow, tried to make it a nerve-jangling one in the second half, something did not change and it was obvious. It was the inconsistencies. A team qualify for playoffs having lost four on the trot seem to be very predictable. An experiment to move Kohli at the top should have been done a little before.

As batting failure continued, Bangalore posted just a total of 131. However, they never let the game move away from their side. They tried to turn every possible stone to throw SRH a tough chase. Warner was a bit unlucky as a terrific length delivery from Siraj went to de Villiers just kissing a small part of his gloves. RCB continued to build pressure on Hyderabad’s middle order and forced 67- 4. Required run rate went over nine and two champions were on the crease. One extremely calm and the other was described as ‘cooler than myself’ by the former at the presentation. With all their experience, two captains take the match home.

Back to today’s contest, Delhi Capitals will take it as a new one. With so many loopholes in execution and de-escalation with the progress of the tournament, they have to rethink and replan. I think just two things in batting may change the situation. They have to be aggressive in the powerplay and in the middle, a pair must rotate strike, try to convert the singles into twos. For Sunrisers, they are well organized and what they need to concentrate on is 40 overs in the field.

Shekhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw should play their natural game at the top. They need to score, as anything loose in the opening had been tormenting them since the middle of this tournament. Rahane and Shreyas Iyer can rotate strike and at the same time, they can take calculated risks. Two overseas players will follow them. Stoinis is in form and delivered more than enough throughout the tournament with both bat and ball. Hetmyer who will be a must replacement for Daniel Sams will take the responsibility of giving the top and the upper-middle order a little bit of freehand to go hard. Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin can bat down the order.

Delhi have a good bowling combination and are losing rhythm in the last few matches. Kagiso Rabada is losing his wicket-taking capability and has not a good record in the powerplay. Still, I think, he should be given the new ball. You cannot take away your best fast bowler from the important spell of the game. Whatever the statistics might be, he should be allowed to take responsibility. He along with Nortje will start against Warner. Ashwin will be introduced in the first six. With less left-hand batters in Hyderabad’s middle order, Axar Patel might be handy today.

If Wriddhiman Saha is fit to play must join the SRH camp. The batting side is okay for them. With their bowling, they are very organized and must create pressure on Delhi. Natarajan bowled a terrific delivery to bowl out de Villiers. Sandip Sharma and Holder are at their best now. Rashid needs no introduction.

As the eliminator was played here at Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, it’ll behave as the same. If I said, in my last preview Eliminator, it’ll be better to chase with dew coming down in the second half, I also wished to go with batting first in such a pressure contest. Hyderabad chased down last night. But the wicket is getting slower in each over. So even being on the wrong side of the toss, you can win. Both the teams might go for one or two changes.