Big Picture

This is the third time this IPL that Delhi Capitals are coming back to their home venue, Feroz Shah Kotla, full of exuberance and positivity. They first did so on the high of having beaten Mumbai Indians in Mumbai. Then they did so having built a three-match winning streak on the road, in Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad. On both occasions they came crashing down thanks largely to a slow and low home surface.

On this homecoming, Capitals are on their highest high. They have won seven out of their 11 matches - teams have previously qualified with seven wins - and are looking for that one win to all but ensure progress to the next round. You might wager they are more or less in, but these wins can take them into the top two, which gives them two shots at making the final.

Up against them is an opposition on a streak itself, defying elimination, which has looked imminent for weeks now. Royal Challengers are hanging by a thread, but are not letting go of that thread. In their last three wins in a row, they have beaten Chennai Super Kings even though MS Dhoni needed two off the last ball, and Kings XI Punjab, who won the first 17 overs of each innings.

It's streak v streak now; one team is gunning for the top spot, the other fighting for another match of life. At the heart of it will be adaptation to a slow surface and an accurate forecast of the dew. In the last set of matches in Delhi, Mumbai Indians defended easily with no dew, and Capitals chased relatively easily thanks to the dew.

In the news

Dale Steyn won't be coming back for Royal Challengers after he injected life into their campaign with a mid-season entry. His shoulder injury has cast a shadow over his participation in the World Cup too. That isn't the only absence RCB will worry about. Moeen Ali too is back home for a preparatory camp with England ahead of the World Cup.

Previous meeting

Capitals went to Bangalore, restricted the hosts to 149 and then chased it down without much bother and with seven balls to spare.

Likely XIs

Delhi Capitals 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt.), 4 Rishabh Pant, 5 Colin Ingram, 6 Sherfane Rutherford, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Amit Mishra, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Sandeep Lamichhane

Royal Challengers Bangalore 1 Parthiv Patel (wk), 2 Virat Kohli (capt.), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Shimron Hetmyer/Colin de Grandhomme, 5 Akshdeep Nath, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Washington Sundar/Pawan Negi, 8 Umesh Yadav, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Nitin Saini

Strategy Punt

• AB de Villiers has been the spirit of Royal Challengers' survival this season, but against Capitals he will have to work harder than against other teams. Since 2017, Kagiso Rabada has got him out in two balls. His problems against left-arm spin are well-documented too. So expect Capitals to attack him with Rabada and Axar Patel or even Ishant Sharma, who has managed to keep him quiet.

Stats that matter

• Ten players have scored more than 4000 runs in the IPL. Only Chris Gayle has a better strike rate than AB de Villiers' 151.57. Gayle scores 0.2 run more over 100 balls.

• Second-innings scores at Kotla this year have ranged between 128 and 185, all depending on the dew in the night.

• With 150 wickets to his name, Amit Mishra is the second-most successful bowler in IPL, behind Lasith Malinga's 166.

• Powerplay runs are crucial, and Shikhar Dhawan has scored the fourth-highest in that period this season. Among batsmen from these two teams, he also holds the best strike rate inside the Powerplay.

Jasmine Joyce scored four tries as Barbarians beat USA Eagles 34-33 in their first women's international.

Joyce's Wales team-mate Alisha Butchers also touched down, while Neariah Persinger crossed twice at Infinity Park in Derby.

Kate Zackary, Amy Naber-Bonte and Eti Haungatau scored one try apiece and Elinor Snowsill kicked two conversions.

The Barbarians play England for the first time as part of a double-header at Twickenham on 2 June.

Barbarians squad

Forwards: Gill Bourke (Stade Francais & Ireland), Amelia Buckland-Hurry (Bristol Bears), Alisha Butchers (Worcester & Wales), Dalena Dennison (Warringah & Australia), Fiao'o Fa'amausili (Auckland Marist & New Zealand), Carmen Farmer (Glendale & USA), Paula Fitzpatrick (St Mary's & Ireland), Samantha Martinez Gion (Amsterdam & Netherlands), Linda Itunu (Ponsonby & New Zealand), Heather Kerr (Darlington MP & England), Steph Te Ohaere-Fox (Christchurch & New Zealand).

Backs: Andrea Burke (Capilanos & Canada), Julia Folk (Castaway Wdrs & Canada), Emma Jensen (Hastings & New Zealand), Jasmine Joyce (Worcester & Wales), Helen Nelson (Montpellier & Scotland), Elinor Snowsill (Bristol Bears & Wales), Hannah Stolba (Glendale & USA), Amanda Thornborough (Westshore & Canada).

The six-time Paralympic champion races the London Marathon for the 20th consecutive year after overcoming setbacks including a car crash and illness

Back in 2017, David Weir said he would never again pull on the GB vest. He was done with international duty. The Rio 2016 Paralympics – his fifth edition after a debut in Atlanta in 1996 – had been one Games too far.

But now he prepares for his 20th London Marathon with the Tokyo Paralympics in his sights and, as Sunday’s event incorporates the World Para Athletics Marathon Championships, it also marks his return to the British team.

“I feel honoured,” admits the 39-year-old, whose global medal haul includes six Paralympic titles. “I feel privileged that they have accepted my comeback, I suppose. It was nice to get the kit this week and I’m proud to be wearing the vest on Sunday.”

While relishing the opportunity, the global competition is an added bonus for Weir, who has been on the start line of every single London Marathon since 2000 and also raced in the mini marathon a number of years before that.

“It always feels special every year, but this year, because it’s my 20th, it’s even more so,” says the eight-time elite wheelchair race winner. “It’s where I started. The mini marathons were the races that got me into the sport so I can’t forget them.

“Winning that many times in a race that I watched in the 1980s, dreaming to even take part in it – to do it 20 years in a row and win eight of them, it’s very special.”

Sunday’s action incorporates the World @ParaAthletics Marathon Championships and @davidweir2012 told @JmWhittington how it feels to be back in GB kit as he gets ready to race the @LondonMarathon for the 20th consecutive year #LondonMarathon @BritAthletics @WMMajors @WeirArcher pic.twitter.com/UzUjOgAYrE

— Athletics Weekly (@AthleticsWeekly) April 25, 2019

This year’s event is sure to mean even more, given what Weir has had to overcome to even make it to the start line.

After suffering whiplash and concussion in December when he was involved in a car crash, Weir has also battled illness and injury over the past few months and had to miss both the Tokyo and Boston marathons.

“It was quite severe,” he says of the crash. “It was a side impact (when another car hit him) and it wrote my car off. I was lucky but I had quite bad whiplash and I was concussed for a bit.

“The car saved my life I think with the airbags and side impact things.”

Having trained hard since being able to return to action, Weir is now raring to race and looking forward to forming part of another strong field on Sunday.

The in-form Daniel Romanchuk is among his rivals, with the 20-year-old American having added victory in Boston earlier this month to his wins in Chicago and New York last year.

Weir outsprinted Marcel Hug to win his eighth title in London last year and Switzerland’s two-time champion also returns, along with South Africa’s 10-time Boston winner Ernst van Dyk, USA’s 2015 world champion Joshua George and Weir’s fellow Brits Simon Lawson and JohnBoy Smith.

“It’s a world championship marathon so it means a lot to some of the athletes because of qualifying as well for Tokyo, and winning a medal,” he says.

“Obviously Daniel is the biggest threat at the moment because he has won the last three marathons, apart from Tokyo, where Marcel won, so those two are ones to watch out for.

“I’m at the back end of my career so I’m just trying to enjoy it as much as I can and if that means I’m going to win a few more marathons then I’m happy with that.”

The world fourth-placer has big aims for his marathon comeback, with the Scottish record and Olympic qualification in his sights

All roads lead to Tokyo for Callum Hawkins and his comeback really kicks off at the Virgin Money London Marathon this weekend.

The world fourth-placer has big aims for his marathon return on Sunday, when he will race over 26.2 miles for the first time since his dramatic collapse at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Hawkins is looking for a performance that will make him stand out to selectors when they come to pick the GB team for next year’s Olympic Games in Japan. Achieving that aim should also secure him a spot for the IAAF World Championships in Doha later this year, as well as a Scottish record.

Allister Hutton’s 2:09:16 from London has stood since 1985 and is an obvious target given that Hawkins has got his eye on a half way split of 63:30.

“I think the plan is 63:30 through half way and then either speed up or hold on – see what it’s like when you get to that point!” says the 26-year-old, who ran his PB of 2:10:17 when finishing just outside the medals at the 2017 world championships in London.

Only one British athlete – European record-holder Mo Farah, who will also be racing in London – has ever broken 2:07 for the marathon. After missing December’s Fukuoka Marathon due to injury, Hawkins was disappointed with his time of 62:50 at last month’s Lisbon Half Marathon but says his subsequent training proves he’s in form.

“Lisbon didn’t go quite as well as I was hoping – I thought I was in a lot better shape,” he says. “But since then I went just as quick and even quicker in two sessions when I was out training in Majorca, so I feel in pretty good shape.

“Every session I did out in Majorca, I was setting PBs for them all.”

A strong run on Sunday is important, he says, to prove he’s back on top after the low of 2018 when he missed out on the Commonwealth title after collapsing when holding a sizeable lead with just 2km to go.

“The comeback from Gold Coast was tough because it was unlike anything I think most people have ever really had from a running point of view,” says Hawkins, who is coached by his father Robert and has also received guidance from former world record-holder Steve Jones out in Boulder, Colorado, in the past.

“With an injury, you know what’s wrong, you can feel the pain, but with Gold Coast, I was feeling good but also not feeling good at the same time. I’d be going out for a run, my legs would be feeling fine, I’d be hitting my normal paces that I’d do for an easy run, but then my heart rate would be 20 or 30 beats higher than it normally would be. It was a bit strange.”

The Scot also revealed how he learned how “one small thing can change everything” but that Gold Coast was “an accumulation of things”.

“I got a bad bug bite the week before and ended up on anti-inflammatories, which knocked my system off a little bit,” he explains. “Maybe I was hot-headed, too, going from a long way out and not taking my foot off the gas.

“I want to get back on to that momentum I had back in 2017 where I was running well pretty much all the time,” adds the 2016 Olympic ninth-placer.

“I want to prove I’m still the athlete I was, and a better athlete.”

And although things have been hard, quitting has never crossed his mind.

“I’m not that kind of person,” he says. “I had two knee surgeries back in 2012 and even then, I never thought I would quit. It never came into my head.”

While Tokyo is Hawkins’ main aim, racing in Doha is part of the journey and the top two British athletes in London this weekend will earn automatic selection for the world championships, provided they also run within the 2:13 qualifying standard.

Athletes seeking Tokyo places will also have the tougher qualifying mark of 2:11:30 in mind, but securing a top-10 place in London, or any of the World Marathon Majors held during the qualification period, will also count as a qualification standard.

“It’s going to be very important for Tokyo,” Hawkins adds as he looks ahead to Sunday’s race. “I think a lot of people are maybe underestimating how much you need to put a good time in.

“I ideally would like to get pre-selected and be able to choose what (else) I get to do next year.

“It’s top 10 or 2:11 but I think you probably need a bit more than that to make sure you’re safe and you get pre-selection.”

Alongside Hawkins and Farah, other British contenders include Wales’ 2:09 man Dewi Griffiths, plus Jonny Mellor and Josh Griffiths.

“Tokyo is the biggest thing because I really think, after my world championships, if everything goes right and especially with the way the conditions are, I do have the chance of winning a medal and that would be the main aim,” Hawkins adds.

“Doha would be a good stepping stone for getting qualification and pre-selection and also to get that monkey off my back that I can run in the heat. And again, it’s another possibility to get a major medal.”