Royal Challengers square off against the Titans to keep playoff hopes breathing

As rains continue in Bengaluru, the Royal Challengers Bangalore dives into the shark-infested waters of uncertainty, squaring off against the formidable Gujarat Titans with the play-offs race partially out of their hand.

Royal Challengers Bangalore are currently placed in the fifth position of the points table with 14 points from 13 fixtures and will have to win against the mighty Titans to keep the hopes of a playoff alive. A win would give RCB more than a glimmer although the result of DC's last game would be of paramount importance. Anything less than a victory will be nudging them into the incessant depths of despair after a battling season.

The Titans have already made it through and will be coming to this contest on the back of another easy win against the Chennai Super Kings as their bowlers pulled the plug on the Yellow Army’s run-flow while their batters cantered to the total with no struggles whatsoever.

For Gujarat this will be a contest where they can experiment vehemently without any worries as the job has been done while for the Challengers, this is one challenge that must be won and even better if it can be won significantly, hoping for the fact that it tips the net run rate slightly towards the better.

Venue Watch:

Of late, Wankhede has devolved from its original batting-friendly nature, and given the titanic span of the tournament, this was bound to happen. The surface will be softening down in the second innings, making life a lot tougher for the batters. A total of 170 seems pretty much defendable with the spinners getting some added sting in the second innings. However, the last game that was played here, showed signs of the traditional batting dominion as the Sunrisers finally managed to clinch their sixth win of the campaign, piling up 193 on the cards. Mumbai dished out a fine counterblast but would eventually fall short by 3 runs.

Battles to watch out for:

Faf du Plessis vs David Miller: Despite Faf’s performances coming and going in patches, but the South African still remains to be RCB’s highest scorer of the season. If he manages to hang out in the middle at least until the halfway mark, it is doom incoming for the opposition bowlers. David Miller has been in intimidating form in the ongoing edition of the tournament and the nickname granted to him makes complete sense as Killer Miller can kill any opponent on his heydays with zero regard for caution.

Virat Kohli vs Hardik Pandya: Kohli has probably had a forgettable season for the Challengers but then again you do not ever commit the nefarious sin of writing a paragon off. Kohli is one of those icons who can simply grab the contest by the scruff of its neck and crack it in a heartbeat. From those exotic cover-drives to those gravity-defying maximums, he is one man you would never want to mess with. Hardik Pandya, on the contrary, has actually been the Titan redivivus for Gujarat and the knocks that he has played at number three or four for the Blues has been more than enough to usher Gujarat to the Promised Land.

Wanindu Hasaranga vs Rashid Khan: In a battle of the turners, both of these reckoning appellations have crippled their oppositions with absolute peaches. Hasaranga will be desperate to put up another bedazzling show to add to his tally of 23 scalps while Rashid Khan knows how to put a stopper in the flow of runs and no matter whichsoever batter is at the other end, it won’t really matter for the erstwhile Afghan skipper.

Squads:

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Faf du Plessis, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Josh Hazlewood, Shahbaz Ahmed, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff, Suyash Prabhudesai, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma, David Willey, Rajat Patidar, Siddharth Kaul.

Gujarat Titans:

Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Mohammad Shami, Lockie Ferguson, Abhinav Sadarangani, Rahul Tewatia, Noor Ahmad, R Sai Kishore, Dominic Drakes, Jayant Yadav, Vijay Shankar, Darshan Nalkande, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph, Pradeep Sangwan, David Miller, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, Gurkeerat Singh, Varun Aaron.

Match Details:

Gujarat Titans vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Date: 19th May 2022

Time: 7:30 PM IST