Rajasthan Royals and the Royal Challengers. The Royalties of the IPL take on each other after a gap of two long years. Royal Challengers Bangalore will host Rajasthan Royals at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. RCB had a good start at the home ground by defeating Kings XI Punjab on Friday. Chasing a small total, AB De Villiers led the follow back and smacked some lusty blows to take the Challengers over the victory line. While Rajasthan also came out strong against the Delhi Daredevils in a rain-curtailed match.
Probable XI Fantasy:
Quinton De Kock (WK), Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers, Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi (BAT) Chris Woakes, K Gowtham, Ben Stokes (AR) S Gopal, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal (BWL)
Here is how the Probable XI shapes up:
Rajasthan Royals:
RR batted better in their last match against Delhi Daredevils. Ajinkya Rahane played the anchor role with his 45 from 40 balls. Sanju Samson 37 and Jos Buttler 29 played very good hands and took the total to a good tally. The rain made easy for RR.
Dhawal Kulkarni chasing bowled an excellent over, giving away only four runs. Ben Laughlin took two wickets in his two overs. For this match, RR persisted with the same playing XI.
Now playing at Chinnaswamy, RR will again be backing its two Bangalore spinners in Shreyas Gopal and K Gowtham. Jofra Archer will have to wait for a few more games it seems. Stuart Binny may also be tried as Bangalore is his home ground.
Playing XI Probable
Ajinkya Rahane (c), Dhawal Kulkarni, Ben Laughlin, Jos Buttler (wk), Jaydev Unadkat, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson, Krishnappa Gowtham, Rahul Tripathi, Shreyas Gopal/Stuart Binny, D’Arcy Short
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
RCB picked up a win at their home ground against the Kings XI Punjab team which had won its first match comfortably. Bangalore sparkled with their bowling. Umesh Yadav ripped out the heart of KXIP batting in one over. Later, Khejroliya-Sundar-Chahal kept Punjab down.
The batting performance was good as De Kock and De Villiers played two very good innings. Virat looked good in his brief stay until he was bowled by Mujeeb. RCB had the same playing XI in both games.
There is no reason as such for RCB to tamper with the winning combination. If they decide to bring in Colid de Grandhomme to instill some balance they will have to do many changes. Mandeep and McCullum may have to sit out to accommodate Parthiv and Grandhomme.
Playing XI Probable:
Brendon McCullum/Parthiv Patel, Quinton de Kock (wk), Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh/Colin De Grandhomme, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal
