Daredevils ready to face the Challengers at home

And if Delhi lost momentum with the defeat, Rahul Dravid’s men are yet to find it. After the plastering by Brendon McCullum in the opening match against Kolkata Knight Riders, the five-wicket win against the winless Mumbai Indians brought back smiles, which vanished again with back-to-back defeats against Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings.

Dravid, however, can find some solace in the fact that against the table-topper Chennai side, the Bangalore boys almost pulled off a win before falling 13 runs short.

When they take the field on Wednesday, the visitors would do whatever it takes to avert a similar heartbreak, while the hosts would try to shrug off their last match’s defeat and bounce back in the reckoning.

The Daredevils have played three matches so far, winning two and losing one to occupy fourth place in the chart with four points, while the Bangalore side — with three defeats and a lone win so far — languish in seventh place in the eight-team event with just two points against their name.

South African speed merchant Dale Steyn has added firepower to the Bangalore attack and the Protean pacer would be asking uncomfortable questions with his mid-140kmph snorters.

Delhi, however, looked far from worried and in fact their all-rounder Rajat Bhatia went on to claim that last match’s defeat may, in fact, prove a blessing in disguise.

“This is a long tournament and I think the defeat actually helped us identify certain grey areas and address those issues,” Bhatia explained.

Unlike most of the teams in the fray, Delhi will not be banking on their foreign recruits but on home-grown talents, including their swashbuckling skipper.

Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir will hope to provide the fireworks upfront, while Shikhar Dhawan too has been impressive so far. And in case Steyn and Co rock Delhi’s boat, Shoaib Malik, Manoj Tiwary, Bhatia and Dinesh Karthik can steady the innings.

In contrast, Bangalore’s batting line-up, including captain Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Wasim Jaffer and the under-performer Virat Kohli, does not look that impressive in this format of the game.

While Bangalore attack boasts of the Steyn-Zaheer duo, Delhi looks more than balanced with Glenn McGrath, Mohd Asif and Ferveez Maharoof bolstering the pace attack.