Rajasthan Royals (RR) faces Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in a battle between the two bottom-placed IPL teams, at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Tuesday. Both RR (10 points) and RCB (8 points) have flattered to deceive thus far, leaving their fans disappointed.
RR is in a better position, but only just. Consecutive wins in the last two matches have injected some life late in the campaign.
RR now also needs to win its two remaining fixtures to stay in playoffs contention.
The visitors, however, will miss the services of all-rounders Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer.
The two key players recently left the squad to join the England team. Archer, in particular, had provided tremendous value with both bat and ball.
In the Kolkata Knight Riders game, Archer smashed an unbeaten 12-ball 27 to help RR seal a three-wicket victory, while his express pace and tight length has troubled opposition batsmen right through the season.
Smith has a niggle
Skipper Steve Smith will compete in his final IPL outing, before joining the Australian team to prepare for the World Cup.
Smith, who injured his elbow while taking a catch to dismiss Sunrisers Hyderabad’s David Warner on Saturday, stated that he was fit and raring to go.
“I don’t have any problem while batting, but I am throwing at probably 70 or 80%. In a couple of weeks, I should be back to throwing at 100%,” Smith said here on Monday.
Smith called on his teammates to end the IPL league stage on a high.
“It is very important for us to win the last two games to give ourselves a chance to qualify. We can’t think about other results; we must focus on how we play.
“Hopefully, the boys can get over the line tomorrow and then go and win against Delhi as well,” he said.
Season to forget
For RCB, this has been a season to forget with just four wins in 12 matches. Captain Virat Kohli spoke about “having fun”, and leaving the rest (making the playoffs) to fate.
If RCB and Kohli are to find joy on the field, the death-over bowling concerns must be addressed without delay.
On Sunday, Navdeep Saini, Marcus Stoinis and Umesh Yadav leaked 56 runs in the last four overs, which played a big part in RCB going down to Delhi Capitals.
With time running out, there can’t be any more slip ups.
Teams (from):
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Sanju Samson, Shubham Ranjane, Ashton Turner, Steve Smith, Stuart Binny, Shreyas Gopal, Sudhesan Midhun, Jaydev Unadkat, Ish Sodhi, Prashant Chopra, Mahipal Lomror, Oshane Thomas, Aryaman Birla, Riyan Parag, Dhawal Kulkarni, Krishnappa Gowtham, Liam Livingstone, Varun Aaron, Shahshank Singh, Manan Vohra, Rahul Tripathi.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (capt), Parthiv Patel, AB de Villiers, Colin de Grandhomme, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Moeen Ali, Shimron Hetmyer, Dale Steyn, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Devdutt Padikkal, Himmat Singh, Milind Kumar, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Heinrich Klaasen, Pawan Negi, Washington Sundar, Akshdeep Nath, Prayas Ray Barman, Kulwant Khejroliya, Tim Southee.
Match starts at 8 pm.
