AHMADABAD: Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will face off at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday to stay alive in this season’s IPL after taking diverse paths to make it to eliminator. The team with more momentum is expected to win a knockout match irrespective of its performance during league stages.
RR won eight of their first nine matches, appeared destined for table top before they lost four games consecutively and one result tied them down to third place behind Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad. RCB took an altogether different route. After winning just one of their first eight matches, they won six on the bounce to clinch the fourth place and make the playoffs.
Looking robust, RCB will again rely on Virat Kohli, holder of Purple Cap for batting performances. Captain Faf Du Plessis, who has aggregated 421 runs, is also back in form and striking at a rate of 163.81.
This time around Rajat Patidar, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik, Mahipal Lomror and Glenn Maxwell have stepped up when it mattered most. While Patidar and Green have done a lot of scoring in middle overs Karthik Lomror as well as Maxwell have been entrusted with lifting up the momentum in death overs.
However, RR have Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma, pacemen who can swing and make it hard for Kohli and Co. Veteran off-spinner Ravinchandran Ashwin (7 wickets) has been less effective but has kept a check on run rate by going at 8.61 runs an over. On the other hand, Yuzvendra Chahal is the top wicket-taker for RR with 17.
Nevertheless, whether or not he opens with Burger – tall South African left-arm pacer – will be interesting though. Pacer Avesh Khan (13 wickets) has been used by RR in the middle and death overs effectively. However, Rajasthan’s batting appears somewhat shaky this time around as Joe Butler has departed.
The batting responsibility has fallen to captain Sanju Samson (504 runs) and also in-form Riyan Parag (531), since opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s form (348 runs) fluctuates so much. West Indian Rovman Powell as well as middle order Dhruv Jurel have not exactly set the house on fire in their batting contributions but still remain crucial members of RR’s playing team
In the first half of the season, RCB’s inability to defend totals and stop their oppositions from setting daunting targets attracted ridicule. For instance, Kohli ran out their opponents by throwing directly to the wicket as well as Du Plessis caught Mitchell Santner in his last match.
Moreover, pacemen Mohammed Siraj with 13 wickets and Yash Dayal with 15 wickets have started bowling right lengths and restricting scoring rate during power plays. Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Karn Sharma and Maxwell & Green are among other bowlers who supported them.
