IPL 2024: To advance in the competition, RCB and RR want to address comparable concerns
Having Troubles, Royal Challengers When Bengaluru and the very successful Rajasthan Royals play each other in the Indian Premier League here on Saturday, strangely, they have comparable concerns to deal with.
The fact that RCB is currently ranked eighth out of ten teams is a good indicator of their problems, while Rajasthan’s perfect record and subsequent second position may not accurately reflect their struggles.
The interweaving element amongst them is a lackluster top-order.
The RCB top-order, which includes Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Rajat Patidar, and captain Faf du Plessis, is a talented and explosive powerhouse. With the exception of ace batsman Virat Kohli, who now holds the Orange Cap with 203 runs and has hit two fifty, none of them have, however, struck either alone or in tandem.
While hitting 29 in their 28-run loss to Lucknow Super Giants, Patidar gave a peek of his ability to make clean shots, but he still has a lot more work to do to support the middle-order of the RCB.
The Bengaluru team will be hoping for a reverse at Sawai Man Singh Stadium, which has characteristics similar to the home ground of the Royal Challengers of Bangalore (RCB) in that it has a smooth surface and an outfield that is quick to give value to strokes made by batsmen.
However, there is more than just the RCB quintet within the Royals’ ranks.
Yashasvi Jaiswal came into this IPL season off the back of some great previous performances, but the left-handed opener has only amassed 39 runs in three games, and Jos Buttler’s tale is not much different.
The England T20 skipper hasn’t looked nearly as formidable as he once did; in three appearances, he has only scored 35 runs with a meager 85 strike rate.
The skipper Sanju Samson (109 runs, one fifty) and the much-improved Riyan Parag (181 runs, two fifties) have been the focal points of the Royals’ batting attack; eventually, however, they will need reliable backing from other players.
In terms of bowling, Rajasthan has an advantage over their rivals.
Together, seasoned leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and pacers Trent Boult and Nandre Burger have amassed 16 wickets in the early going.
The disconnected The three may be difficult for Bengaluru’s hitters to take on on their home field.
Surprisingly, the one aspect of Rajasthan’s bowling that is lacking is the inconsistent performance of Ravichandran Ashwin, who has only claimed one wicket in three games while conceding 8.3 runs per over.
However, the skilled off-spinner has a good track record against RCB and can swiftly turn it around.
But based on their previous four games, it seems like RCB lacks the diversity or power in their bowling to take advantage of Rajasthan’s batting weaknesses.
With four wickets each, left-arm pacer Yash Dayal and off-spinner Glenn Maxwell top their respective wicket-takers’ table, but even that figure is exaggerated since neither player has been able to really influence the play.
They have suffered greatly from the modesty of seasoned pacers; Mohammed Siraj has conceded more over ten runs per over, while Alzarri Joseph and Reece Topley, who replaced him, have conceded over nine runs per over for pitiful returns.
Groups (from):
The following players are the Royal Challengers of Bengaluru: Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, and Saurav Chauhan.
The Rajasthan Royals are made up of the following players: Sanju Samson ©, Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, and Nandre Burger.
The game begins at 7:30 p.m.
