In the much-awaited Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 Rajasthan Royals (RR) will be locking horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on May 27 (Friday). Both teams have played some excellent cricket throughout the tournament and are now just one step away from reaching the all-important final match of the tournament.
While RR suffered a dominating loss in the Qualifier 1 match against the new entrants Gujarat Titans (GT), the Red Army registered a brilliant win over the other new team Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the eliminator to seal their place in Qualifier 2. It is going to be an exciting contest with several star players including Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Virat Kohli, and Faf du Plessis among other players to play in the contest.
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Both the teams have reached this stage of the tournament for quite a long period of time as RR only reached eliminator in 2018 and the story has been the same for RCB in the last couple of seasons. In the 27 meetings between the two sides in IPL so far, RCB is leading the charts 13-11 against RR in the head-to-head battles. In the last 5 meetings, however, it’s 4-1 in favor of RCB. Earlier this season, both the teams have locked horns with each other twice and have registered one win apiece.
Rajasthan Royals (RR)
Faf Du Plessis has been dismissed six times by left-arm fast bowlers in this IPL. Even in the Eliminator game, he was dismissed on a golden duck by a southpaw pacer. Boult, who has snared du Plessis’s wicket three times in T20s, would be visualizing such a dismissal. Three of RCB’s big four – Kohli, Du Plessis and Karthik – strike at under 100 versus Chahal. The leg-spinner has also taken 14 wickets in the end overs this season.
Probable XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Obed McCoy
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
Wanindu Hasaranga has accounted for Samson’s wicket five times and has given away a mere 18 runs. Another interesting cat and mouse battle would be Hazlewood versus Buttler. In one of the league games, Buttler had tried to disrupt Hazlewood’s length with his version of tap dancing. But Hazlewood has been foxing the batters with the short ball.
Probable XI: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Mahipal Lomror, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasranga, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood.
Fantasy XI Suggestion 1:
Dinesh Karthik, Jos Buttler (C), Sanju Samson, Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (VC), Rajat Patidar, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Josh Hazlewood, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga.
Fantasy XI Suggestion 2:
Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Shimron Hetmyer, Rajat Patidar, Ravichandran Ashwin (VC), Glenn Maxwell (C), Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Wanindu Hasaranga
