Ahmedabad. Everyone is waiting for the eliminator match of the Indian Premier League. Everyone wants to see whether Royal Challengers Bangalore will move towards the finals or whether Rajasthan Royals, who slipped after a great start, will win. Rajasthan, captained by Sanju Samson, will face a tough challenge from the confident Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League playoffs on Wednesday, having reached this stage with a miraculous performance. The last time both the teams faced each other in the eliminator was in 2015.
At one time it seemed that the Royals would be in the top two but they had to face four consecutive defeats. They finished second after Sunrisers Hyderabad as the last match against KKR was washed out due to rain. Whereas RCB, after being on the verge of being out of the playoffs, has sensationally reached fourth place. After losing seven out of the first eight matches, Faf du Plessis's team defeated defending champion Chennai Super Kings and made it to the playoffs.
The Royals have reached this point after four defeats and one rain-interrupted match, while RCB have raised alarm bells for their rivals by registering six consecutive wins. Royals, champions of the first season of IPL in 2008, were considered to be strong contenders for the title a few weeks ago, but the weaknesses of their batting and bowling were exposed in the last four matches.
Jos Buttler's return to England has affected his batting. Now Yashasvi Jaiswal (348 runs), Captain Samson (504 runs) and Ryan Parag (531 runs) will have to shoulder additional responsibilities. Apart from Samson and Parag, a good innings will also be expected from England's Tom Haller Cadmore who can open the innings with Jaiswal. Shimron Hetmyer can strengthen the lower order, although he has not been able to do anything amazing with the bat so far this season.
Rain of runs in Ahmedabad
Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad is not a place for batsmen like other grounds, so Royals bowlers can prove useful. The score has crossed 200 only twice in 12 innings at this ground this season, which means a team with disciplined bowling may have the upper hand.
Whereas RCB's Virat Kohli has scored 708 runs in 14 matches this season and he can prove to be a trumpcard. Captain Faf du Plessis has also returned to form while Rajat Patidar has also scored five half-centuries. The departure of England's Will Jacques has not affected RCB as Dinesh Karthik is scoring runs at a strike rate of more than 195 in the lower order. In the last match, Yash Dayal had given victory to the team by bowling an excellent last over against Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja of Chennai Super Kings. He would like to maintain this rhythm.
tag: ipl 2024
first published : May 21, 2024, 2:31 pm IST
