Royal rumble on the cards as RCB chase second win

A midweek blockbuster awaits us as the Royal Challengers Bangalore take on an in-form Rajasthan in their third bout of the season. In what can very well be a dynamic war of the willow and leather, two well-oiled bowling units would cross paths with each other as there will be a lot more on the line than just two points.

The Challengers will be coming fresh to this contest on the back of a thrilling win against the Kolkata Knight Riders in their second encounter. Their bowlers pulled off a phenomenal display as they knocked over the Kolkata Knight Riders for a modest 128.

Rajasthan Royals has pulled off a couple of blistering all-round displays in their first two games and will be hoping to continue their swansong against the Challengers who are still to strike the perfect chord of balance between their batting and bowling.

In the opening match of the tournament, RCB’s new captain, Faf du Plessis came out in flying colours that saw Bangalore racking up a 200 plus total. However, their bowlers lost the plot midway and Odean Smith hammered them to all corners of the park to secure a thrilling win.

For the Royals, Jos Butler has been in terrifying form and his century in the last game will be ringing a couple of warning bells for the Challengers. One knows very well that if the English biffer gets going, it will be a daunting task to reel him back in.

Similarly, for the Challengers, they have the likes of Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis in their ranks who can wreak havoc if their willow starts speaking. Add to that the finishing ability of Dinesh Karthik and you would know that both the teams are in for an absolute gutter war.

If the batting ranks are filled with some illustrious power-hitters of both sides, then the spinning duel of Hasaranga and Yuzvendra Chahal is going to be a slugfest of the turning talismans. With all said and done, do not forget the face-off between Harshal Patel and Prasidh Krishna. Both the fast bowlers are in tremendous form and would render this contest as a clash of the titans.

Venue watch:

This will be RCB’s opening game in 2022 at the Wankhede and the surface will be assisting both the batters and the bowlers. The team batting second will have an added advantage as the dew kicks in while the bowlers will have fragmented bursts of brilliance. The fast bowlers will have the added factor of bounce and carry in the opening overs but after the initial 4-5 overs it will be all about the batters. From the 7 T20 games played here, only 2 have been won batting first. With a total of 230 being chased down, almost no score is big enough for this surface.

Rivalries:

Faf du Plessis versus Jos Butler – Two of the finest T20 cricketers of the world will be the two most vital cogs in the respective plans of both sides. Faf’s towering presence will play a crucial element for the Challengers upfront while Rajasthan will be hoping for Butler to continue with his blistering form that left the Delhi bowlers run into a staggering wall.

Virat Kohli versus Sanju Samson – This is going to be an intriguing war as Virat Kohli showed signs of promise in the opener while Samson has played a couple of excellent knocks already where the opener for the Royals witnessed him going ballistic while the second game witnessed him dropping anchor, ushering the franchise to a staggering total.

Wanindu Hasaranga versus Yuzvendra Chahal – This may very well be the determining factor of the contest as both the spinners have been in magical touch with Chahal putting up excellent figures for grabs while Hasaranga’s four-fer left KKR stuttering in a low-scoring thriller. Even though the Sri Lankan spinner is new to the Indian franchise yet he is an established moniker in the shortest format of the game when it comes to the international ranks. While Yuzvendra Chahal is one of the most successful bowlers of the IPL, this is one battle that everyone in the cricketing fraternity would cherish.

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, Luvnith Sisodia, Siddharth Kaul.

Rajasthan Royals:

Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler (R), Yashasvi Jaiswal (R), R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Arunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie Van Der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell

Match details:

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals

Venue: Wankhede Stadium

Date: 4th April 2022

Time: 7:30 PM IST