The new-look Rajasthan Royals under the 26-year old wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson suffered heartbreak in their opening game of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as they fell short by just four runs after Samson hit his third century in the league, against the Punjab Kings, While, their Thursday’s opponents Delhi Capitals started where they left off in the last season and swatted aside the Chennai Super Kingsby seven wickets chasing down 189 runs in just 18.4 overs.

Capitals have dominated their Thursday’s opponents in the recent past winning all of their last five encounters and will be looking to continue that record as they take on Samson-led side at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Head-to-head: 22 games, RR – 11, DC – 11

The Rajasthan Royals and the Delhi Capitals have faced each other 22 times in the 11 seasons (RR were suspended for the 2016, 2017 seasons) of the IPL since 2008 and both sides have won 11 games each of those 22 meetings.

The Capitals won both games last season against the Royals. In the first encounter, they came from behind and defended a 161-run score owing to a fantastic second spell from Anrich Nortje and beat the Royals by 13 runs. In their first fixture, Capitals amassed 184 runs at the Sharjah Cricket Ground owing to Shimron Hetmyer’s knock of 45 runs off just 24 balls and they eventually won the game by 46 runs.

Ajinkya Rahane leads the most runs list 

Delhi Capitals batsman Ajinkya Rahane, who has played for the Royals for seven years from 2011-2015 and then from 2018-2019, is the leading run-scorer in the RR vs DC clashes with 601 runs. He is followed by former captain of the Delhi franchise, Virender Sehwag with 295 runs.

Amit Mishra is the leading wicket-taker

The veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra is the leading wicket-taker in the RR vs DC encounters with 20 wickets to his name.