Jaipur, April 6: Past records favour Royal Challengers Bengaluru. But current form definitely makes Rajasthan Royals (RR) a more formidable side in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Both siders will clash on Saturday evening, here in the 19th match of the IPL 2024.
Sanju Sampson led Rajasthan have been on a roll, winning all their three encounters so far. But in the past too, RR have often been suddenly off-colour after winning a few matches. They have often played strange cricket and have lost hold of situations, after enviable performances.
Considering their past records. they would certainly look to be more cautions, consistent and ruthless in this year's IPL. But it is too early to predict if they continue their winning run.
On the contrary, RCB have never won the IPL Trophy so far, despite some very big world-class players in their ranks always. Either they have not clicked as a unit, or have won matches because of individual brilliance.
Rajasthan appear a better balanced side, especially for their six-pronged bowling attack. Their bowlers make them a potential force in IPL 2024.
However, after winning the first edition under late Shane Warne's able leadership, they too have never again lifted the IPL Trophy, despite occasional good runs.
This edition, their star batter Jos Buttler is yet to fire. But they have different match-winners in all three games. Their success is mainly due to their bowlers.
If Trent Boult and Nandre Burger have given them good starts with the new ball. then seasoned Indian spinners duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal have been very impressive in middle overs.
Towards the end, Rajasthan Royals enjoy the consistent success of medium pacers Sandeep Sharma and Avesh Khan.
As far as RCB are concerned, their top order batters except Virat Kohli, have not been at their best so far. But with stars like skipper Faf Du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green, the Bengaluru side definitely can beat any side with their world-class players.
Rajasthan will host RCB in match 19 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Saturday. RR with three wins in as many games, are positioned second on the points table, whereas with only one win in four games RCB are on the eighth position.
RCB with a loss on their back against Lucknow Super Giants in their home ground by 28 runs will look to get back on the winning track while RR will be eyeing to continue their dominance in their home ground. RR in their last match beat Mumbai Indians by six wickets at Wankhede Stadium.
Both the teams have met 30 times in the past IPL season and RCB with 15 wins out of these outing have dominance over RR. 12 matches has been won by Rajasthan and two matches had no results.
RR v RCB Head-to-Head 30:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 15.
Rajasthan Royals: 12.
No Result: 3.
Pitch report:
Batting first and defending totals of 193 and 185, the Royals have won their first two home games thus far. Though the Sawai Mansingh Stadium isn't strictly a bat-first ground, the vast outfield and relative lack of dew do seem to even things up for the side bowling second. The chasing team had a strong opportunity in the match.
RR v RCB Match time: The Match starts at 7:30 PM IST (2:00 PM GMT) with toss taking place half an hour prior to the match i.e., 7:00 PM (1:30 PM GMT)
Live broadcast of RR v RCB match on television in India: RR v RCB match will be broadcast live via Star Sports Network.
Live stream in India: The live streaming of RR v RCB will be available on JioCinema.
Squads:
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Cameron Green, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, and Swapnil Singh.
Rajasthan have often done well in Jaipur. But cricket being a funny game and with full of surprises, anything is possible. (With IANS support)