Zaheer Khan likely to return for RCB game on Sunday: Praveen Amre

Zaheer Khan (R) during the launch of DD’s jersey for 2015 prior to the start of the IPL

Praveen Amre, the assistant coach of Delhi Daredevils (DD), has said that pacer Zaheer Khan is likely to be fit and return to action for their game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Sunday. Before that, though, DD have the task of overcoming the Mumbai Indians at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Thursday.

"We are hopeful that by the 26th game he will be fit. But it depends on the physio. Like today he did bowl in the nets, so we are very positive about it," Amre said during the post-match press conference after Delhi's six-wicket loss to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Monday.

Zaheer has been struggling with injuries lately and is yet to feature in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) for DD.

Delhi suffered their ninth straight loss at home when they took on KKR last night. They have won two out of the five games that they have played so far this season.

Amre expressed confidence over DD bouncing back from their loss, saying: “We still have three games here and the two away wins were also important for us. I think the next game we play against Mumbai Indians will be very important for us. We can't complain about the wicket. Whatever wicket is there, we have to play good cricket and I think today we were just short of 20 runs."

"We must give credit to the KKR bowlers because they bowled extremely well to give just 36 runs in the first powerplays. I will say that Umesh bowling four overs for 18 runs was very crucial, because we could not even get runs in the death overs,” he further added.

"That was the time we knew that we were 20 runs short, especially on the Delhi wicket. 170 plus is a par score but you must give credit to the KKR bowlers because they bowled brilliantly," said the former Indian batsman.