RCB vs DC Prediction: Patidar can help champions flex their muscles

It's early days in the Indian Premier League but things are going swimmingly for defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru right now.  RCB have won four of their first five matches of the regular season and trail the Punjab Kings, the side they beat in last year's final, by only a single point.

With the Kings not in action until Sunday, Bengaluru have a chance to take over at the top should they beat the Delhi Capitals, who have won two and lost two so far.

Cricket Odds

IPL Odds

RCB vs DC Odds

Reigning IPL champions Bengaluru are 4/7 favourites to record a fifth win of the season against the 11/8 Delhi Capitals.

RCB superstar Virat Kohli currently leads the Orange Cap standings as the top runscorer in the competition and he is 9/4 favourite to top-score for the hosts at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Rajat Patidar top RCB runscorer @ 3/1

Any doubts about Kohli's effectiveness as he enters the twilight of his career have been firmly dispelled by the masterful India superstar in the opening weeks of the season.

Kohli has scored 228 runs in his first five IPL matches of 2026, but RCB are far from a one-man team.

Their captain, Rajat Patidar, has compiled only six runs fewer than Kohli and could take top billing when Delhi head to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Patidar has been in fine touch for the defending champions this season, making knocks of 31, 48 not out, 63, 53 and 27 to help his side make an excellent start to their title defence.

He is the glue that allows a high-quality batting unit to thrive, but it would be unwise for Delhi's bowlers to focus on the other end when Patidar is at the crease given he has already hit 27 sixes this season, seven more than he managed in the entire 2025 campaign.

RCB to hit most sixes @ 8/13

Patidar's 21 maximums - the most in this season's IPL by an individual - is only 10 shy of the total mustered by the entire Delhi Capitals team.

The Capitals have hit 31 in their first four matches, an average of 7.75 per game, while RCB have smashed almost double that amount in their five games, clearing the ropes on 61 occassion.

Power-hitting can be a decisive attribute in T20 cricket these days and the Royal Challengers certainly hold an advantage in that department.

The champions have passed 200 in all but one of their five matches this season - they likely would have in their other game given they chased down a 147 in 15.1 overs - and the 8/13 that they hit more sixes than the Capitals seems a fair proposition.

RCB have batsmen capable of going big throughout their batting order, a strength that some other franchises can only look at with envy.

Cricket betting tips with Betfred Insights.