Last Updated on 3 months by Charbel Coorey

IPL 2021 Match 7: RR vs DC Dream11 Prediction Possible Playing 11 Pitch Report | RR vs DC Dream11 Prediction Today | Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Key Players | Mumbai Pitch Report

The Apprentice Rishabh Pant outshined the Master MS Dhoni in his first match as the Captain. Now, he will be taking on his fellow Indian Wicket-Keeper Sanju Samson in the 7th match of IPL 2021.

Veteran Southpaw Dhawan (85 off 44 balls) helped Capital Capitals chase a target of 189 with ridiculous ease. In DC’s chase, we also witnessed a revamped version of Prithvi Shaw, who made the most of his home ground advantage and made a blistering 72 off 38 balls. Despite missing their regular bowlers Rabada and Nortje, the Capitals did quite well in their bowling department. Avesh Khan, who was picked ahead of Umesh Yadav carried on his domestic form and picked up a couple of wickets, along with Chris Woakes who also had 2 scalps to his name.

Unfortunately, the DC camp suffered a covid scare when Nortje tested positive. However, the question remains on the availability of his fellow paceman Rabada, as both the quicks flew together for the IPL.

At a distance, Sanju Samson’s incredible 119 off 63 balls on captaincy debut came in a losing cause. He just fell short on smashing the last ball of the match to seal victory for the Rajasthan Royals. Netizens all over Twitter pondered their thoughts on Samson refusing the strike to Morris on the penultimate ball of the match on which Samson said “it’s all about trusting the process and being honest to his abilities. I timed it well but could not clear the man in the deep”. 

After Samson, the second-highest run-scorer from the RR camp was Jos Buttler with just 25 runs, which also means that RR batters need to pull up the socks and try to match the standards set by the Captain. In their bowling department, Chetan Sakariya grabbed the spotlight on his IPL debut, rightly so as the 23-year old has fought all his battle alone. The left-arm pacer from Gujrat grabbed 3 wickets by giving away 31 runs.

Royals suffered the blow of the tournament when their Champion All-rounder Ben Stokes was ruled out of the IPL following a broken finger (RR statement here). As of now, the Royals have not announced any replacement. One between Liam Livingstone and David Miller will get a chance in the playing 11.

Key Players to Watch/Key Stats

• Shikhar Dhawan – Gabbar has 547 runs from his 19 innings at an average of 32.2 vs RR. His average goes up to 57.8 batting second. He will be good captaincy choice in all leagues.
• Prithvi Shaw –  Shaw operates with an average of 23.2 against Royals with 116 runs from 5 innings. His record is quite similar in both the innings. He will a good pick in all leagues but choosing him as C/VC is something we will look to avoid.
• Ajinkya Rahane – Rahane has led Royals in the past and till now he has not done much against them, having played 2 innings with just 5 runs to his name.
• Marcus Stoinis– Stonis has made 122 runs in 6 innings at an average of 30.5 vs RR. He has bowled in 4 innings against them and has 3 scalps to his name. Stonis bowled 13th and 15th over in the last match but did not get any wicket. Against Royals also he has not had much success in the past, but is capable of changing that here.
• R Ashwin – Ashwin has 16 wickets from his 15 innings against the Royals. All eyes will be on him when goes against his best friend Jos Buttler.
• Chris Woakes – Woakesy has played once against the Royals and picked up 2 wickets. Chris Woakes is one of the most underrated all-rounders across format and has a good chance to show the all-round value to a global audience.
• Kagiso Rabada– Rababa rolls over Royals. He has 6 wickets from his  3 innings at a strike rate of 11.7. We further await clearance on his availability.
• Amit Mishra – Till now if you were reading all stats carefully to get a good grand league pick, you have got it in Mishra. With 30 wickets from 19 innings with a strike rate of 14, Mishra has the best bowling record against the Royals in the IPL. The only worry is that the Wankhede deck does not offer much assistance to spinners which limit Mishra’s spot to 1-2 teams.
• Avesh Khan – Khan is coming from a terrific domestic season in which he got 14 wickets from his 5 innings. He looked good in the first match and ended with 2 wickets to his name.

Rajasthan Royals

• Sanju Samson – Samson was part of the Delhi camp earlier. Against Delhi Capitals, he has 160 runs with an average of 16.9, so he will be looking to improve. He is coming off one of the all-time best IPL knocks in a losing cause.
• Jos Buttler – Buttler has 179 runs from 7 innings at an average of 26.75 vs RR. He has an identical record in both innings. Also, Buttler is likely to open the batting. When opening in IPL, Buttler has 1,179 runs in 31 innings at an average of 40.66 and SR of 157.41.
• David Miller – Miller has 322 runs against Delhi with an average of 31.95. Of late, Miller has been in good form which makes him worth a slot in 1-2 Grand League teams.
• Chetan Sakariya –  Yes, we know that all this while you were searching for Sakariya stats with curiosity and we have got him covered. The left-arm quick had a good domestic season in which he managed 12 wickets from his 5 innings at an average of 10. He is coming off a three-wicket haul in the opening game.
• Chris Morris – Morris has played for Delhi camp earlier. While playing against them he has 3 wickets from 3 innings and 14 runs. 
• Shivam Dube – Dube has 52 runs from his 3 innings against the Capitals at an average of 17.3. He just bowled one over in which he conceded 20 runs. Not to forget he is playing at his home ground and can be tried in  1-2 grand league team.
• Riyan Parag – Parag bowling has increased his fantasy value. Against Capitals, he has 55 runs with an average of 18.3 from his 3 matches and also got a wicket. 
• Rahul Tewatia – Tewatia was part of Delhi Capitals before joining Royals. Against Capitals, he has batted once and scored 52 runs from his 2 innings and also picked up a wicket.
• Liam Livingstone – Livingstone has played once against Capitals and scored 14 runs. 

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Stats and Facts

• Overall Played 22 | DC Won 11 | RR Won 11
• Sanu Samson joined Shane Watson and ABD in scoring 3 IPL Hundreds.
• Shikhar Dhawan became the 3rd highest scorer of the IPL before Rohit took over in the following game.

Predicted Playing 11

Anrich Nortje’s positive COVID-19 case puts doubt around Kagiso Rabada’s availability.

Delhi Capitals: 1. Shikhar Dhawan, 2. Prithvi Shaw, 3. Ajinkya Rahane, 4. Rishabh Pant (c & wk), 5. Marcus Stoinis, 6. Shimron Hetmyer, 7. Chris Woakes, 8. Ravichandran Ashwin, 9. Tom Curran/Kagiso Rabada, 10. Amit Mishra, 11. Avesh Khan

David Miller and AJ Tye are out of quarantine and are available for selection.

Rajasthan Royals: 1. Manan Vohra, 2. Jos Buttler, 3. Sanju Samson (c & wk), 4. David Miller/Liam Livingstone, 5. Riyan Parag, 6. Shivam Dube, 7. Rahul Tewatia, 8. Chris Morris, 9. Shreyas Gopal, 10. Chetan Sakariya, 11. Andrew Tye/Mustafizur Rahman

Wankhede Mumbai Pitch Report and Conditions

The Wankhede pitch has been a belter. The red soil aids pace and bounce. Hitting on the up, hitting square of the wicket, hitting anywhere across the ground is viability on this turf. And it only gets better for the team chasing. Some amount of dew also assists the team batting second.

Dream11 Prediction

Option 1:

Option 2:

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Match Prediction

Unless something dramatic happens, Delhi Capitals should win this one. However, history tells us Wankhede favors the team batting second more often than not. Should be an interesting match.

Written by Shekhar Singh. Follow Shekhar on Twitter today.