IPL 2025: Battle of familiar faces as RCB take on DC | Cricket News

BENGALURU: Thanks to the auction process, players in the Indian Premier League (IPL) regularly come up against their old teams, some with a sense of nostalgia and others with, perhaps, revenge in mind. Regardless, little love is lost as they pursue IPL glory and its riches.
Mohammed Siraj, currently with Gujarat Titans, is a case in point as he made an emotional return to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium last week and did enough to hand Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) their first loss in three matches. Emotions will run high again when unbeaten Delhi Capitals (DC) take on RCB on Thursday.
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Several DC players have a connection with RCB and their home ground. There is Faf du Plessis, who led RCB for three seasons until the franchise relinquished their hold on him ahead of the auction last year. The 40-year-old missed out on silverware but came close to etching his name as RCB’s most famous captain since he led the team into two playoffs. He scored more than 400 runs in each season, a remarkable 730 runs in 2023 being the highlight.

Du Plessis, now deputy to Axar Patel in DC, could add a few more at a ground that was his second home not long ago, though his fitness remains a concern. He sat out the previous game against Chennai Super Kings due to a groin niggle.
Capitals’ assistant coach Matthew Mott was non-committal on du Plessis’s availability.
“The beauty of the schedule so far is we’ve had some really good breaks and Faf’s had a good break. He’ll get assessed today by the physios with a view to playing. To the naked eye, he certainly looks like he’s moving around a lot better.”
Then, there is Australian pace merchant Mitchell Starc, who cut his teeth in the IPL with RCB in 2014. The left-arm pacer picked up 34 wickets in two seasons before a foot fracture ruled him out of the 2016 edition.
KL Rahul is another who returns to his home ground with a new team again this season. The stylish batter, who missed the opening match due to the birth of his daughter, scored a match-winning 51-ball 77 in the previous contest against CSK. Rahul, who spent four seasons at RCB, was widely speculated to return home at the auction but was snapped up by DC for Rs 14 crore.
Both the teams come into the contest on the back of wins, with RCB prevailing in a tense defence of their tall total against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday. While skipper Rajat Patidar and Virat Kohli scored crucial half-centuries, the takeaways from the match were the return to form of southpaw Devdutt Padikkal and wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma’s game-changing unbeaten 19-ball 40.
Barring leggie Suyash Sharma and pace ace Josh Hazlewood, all the other bowlers conceded runs, especially in the second half of Mumbai’s innings, but they managed to soak up the pressure at the death.
This new-look RCB have got a lot off their back. They conquered Kolkata Knight Riders, CSK, and MI in their own dens, but came a cropper against the Titans at home. They will hope that loss is an aberration, since the Capitals have plenty of bowling ammunition, especially with spin duo Kuldeep Yadav and Axar in their ranks.