Former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta believes defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will have an edge over Delhi Capitals (DC) in Monday’s IPL 2026 clash, citing a dip in Delhi’s confidence and RCB’s strong all-round form this season.
Speaking to Star Sports as an expert on JioStar, Dasgupta pointed to Delhi’s recent heavy defeat against Punjab Kings (PBKS) as a key issue.
“I think RCB have an edge against DC because DC don’t have enough confidence, especially after the way they lost their last game against Punjab,” he said.
He added that while Delhi’s huge total in this game showed their batting prowess, their bowling and fielding remained a major problem.
IPL Live: Constant reinvention with each passing year’: Dinesh Karthik praises Virat Kohli’s consistency in IPL
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik praised legendary batsman Virat Kohli ahead of the team’s Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match against Delhi Capitals on Monday.
Karthilk hailed Kohli for rediscovering his form every year and keeping up with the pace of the format while playing in the IPL.
Virat Kohli has fallen short of the 400-run mark in an IPL season only twice – once in 2017 and again in 2022. In the current season, he has already scored 328 runs in seven innings while maintaining an impressive average of 54.66 and a strike rate of 163.18.
In the pre-match press conference ahead of the match against DC, Karthik praised Kohli for his ability to keep reinventing himself every year and remain competitive in modern T20 cricket. He pointed out that despite the increasing pace of the game and the increase in the number of players with extremely high success rates, Kohli consistently adapts and delivers match-winning performances, which makes his long-term consistency and development particularly remarkable.
“To his credit, the man keeps reinventing himself with every passing year. And to keep up with the pace of this game, and some of the newer players are batting at crazy rates and he’s going side by side with them and producing match-winning performances. So I’m amazed at how he reinvents himself almost every year,” Karthik said.
Karthik said Kohli is highly methodical in his approach, regularly reviews his performances and sets a clear plan for improvement every year. He added that Kohli is disciplined and persistent in his progress not only during matches, but also in training sessions, where he constantly evaluates and improves his game.
“The guy comes back every year and evaluates what he’s done. And he almost comes with a very stubborn plan of how he wants to do it. And he doesn’t do it per se on match days, but also in the way he trains. And he has a method of how he goes about it and constantly checks himself in practice,” he said.
