RCB v RR: MATCH NO 13 PREVIEW

Rajasthan Royals lock horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore in match no 13 of 2022 IPL at the Wankhede stadium.

Rajasthan Royals are yet to lose a game this season. They first crushed Sunrisers Hyderabad in their opening encounter by posting over 200 and then defeated the 5 time champions Mumbai Indians by defending 180. The spin duo of Ashwin and Chahal in middle overs and a the duo of Prasidh Krishna and Trent Boult with the new ball makes them one of the most complete bowling attacks in the tournamnet. Apart from batting depth, there are hardly any chinks in their armour. It becomes difficult to conatin RR's batting line up when it consists of 1. Jos Buttler who has the best strike rate in Powerplay since 2018 and has scored 3 t20 100s in a year's span. 2. Sanju Samson who has scored the most runs in middle overs since 2020 at a SR of 161. 3. Shimron Hetmyer who has the most runs in death overs and most sixes since last season.

RCB are coming off a close win against KKR. Their bowling attack displayed a superb performance contrary to what we witnessed in the 1st game where they struggled to defend 205. RCB have beaten RR in last 4 encounters. Yuzvendra Chahal and Devdutt Paddikal who starred in some of those wins now are on the opoosite side. It would be interesting to see if RCB pick Mahipal Lomror in the 11 to counter spin in the middle overs or promote David Willey like they did in the last game. Unlike other venues, we haven't seen high scoring games at Wankhede so far. 13 wickets have fallen in 3 games in the Powerplay and chasing team has won in all 3 games.

Probable XI

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Mahipal Lomror, Sherfane Rutherford, Dinesh Karthik, David Willey, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Mohammad Siraj.

Rajasthan Royals

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Butler, Devdutt Paddikal, Sanju Samson(c), Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, , Ravi Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna

Team News

RCB: Glenn Maxwell, Josh Hazlewood and Jason Behrendroff will be available on 9th April.

Venue:

-Average 1st innings total: 166.4
-Average 1st innings total in 2022: 142
-Average 1st Innings winning score: 179.8

-Highest total: 235/1, made by Royal Challengers Bangalore against Mumbai Indians.
-Lowest Score:–67/10, made by Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians

-Teams batting 1st: Have won 40 out of 86 times
-Teams batting 2nd: Have won 46 out of 86 times

Teams batting 2nd have won the last 13 out of 16 T20 games at the Wankhede

Head to Head:

Overall: RCB leads by 12-10
Batting 1st: RR leads by 4-3
Batting 2nd: RCB leads by 9-6
Last 5 matches: RCB leads by 4-0 (1 NR)

Match Ups:

Kohli vs Ashwin: 160/1 at 128 sr
Kohli vs Prasidh: 56/1 at 207 sr
Kohli vs Boult: 44/0 at 125 sr
DK vs Ashwin: 55/1 at 112 sr
DK vs Chahal: 31/3 at 86 sr
Faf vs Boult: 37/3 at 86 sr
Faf vs Ashwin: 27/1 at 96 sr

Shimron vs Hrashal: 25/0 at 178 sr
Buttler vs Willey: 22/0 at 157 sr
Samson vs Siraj: 20/2 at 133 sr
Riyan vs Harshal: 14/2 at 175 sr
Shimron vs Siraj: 19/1 at 135 sr

Stats and Trivia:

Shimron Hetmyer has hit most sixes (15) in death overs since 2021.

Ravi Ashwin has taken most wkts (8) as an off spinner in Powerplay since 2020

Faf du Plessis has scored the most runs (312) against pace since 2020

Jos Buttler has the best strike rate (148) in Powerplay since 2018

Sanju Samson has scored the most runs (679) in middle overs since 2020

Form Update:
(IPL 2021 and 2022)

Key players and Fantasy Picks:

Captain:

Faf du Plessis: He had a prolific last season with 633 runs and played a lion's share in CSK winning the final match. RCB would expect him to repeat his last season heroics at the top of the order and he has started this season with a knock of 88. 1571 runs at a SR of 135 are his nos since 2019.

Jos Buttler: Since 2018, Butler strikes at 148.3 in the Powerplay with 703 runs. Regarded as one of the most dangerous white ball batters in the world, he had a brilliant t20 wc where he scored a scintillating 100 against SL on a slow Sharjah Pitch and carried his form in the IPL where he scored another 100 in his 2nd game of the season. Buttler now has 2 100s in his last 3 IPL gamnes.

Yuzvendra Chahal: He has been RCB's backbone in the bowling department for years. He parted ways with franchise after being their highest wicket taker with 139 scalps at an economy of 7.6. He is the highest wicket taker (115) in the middle overs phase since his debut. Faf, Kohli and Karthik's nos against leg spin aren't great and its expected Chahal bowls an another economical spell for RR.

Vice Captain:

Wanindu Hasaranga: This all rounder from Sl was RCB's most expensive buy in the auctions. He is one of the most difficult bowlers to play in t20 cricket currently and is also a very handy middle order batter. He has 57 wkts from 35 matches at an eco of 6.39 in t20is. Yuzi Chahal performed the role of the lead spinner to perfection for 8 years and RCB would be hoping the same from Hasaranga. He took 4 wkts in his last match against KKR.

Sanju Samson: Often criticized for his inconsistency, he has exhibited great improvement in the last 2 seasons of the IPL. He used to start the season strong and then post a string of low scores. He is the only middle order batter apart from AB de Villiers to score 3 centuries as a non-opener. Since 2018, Samson has scored 1727 runs at a strike rate of 145. Only Rishabh Pant had a better SR than him among the Indian batters

Harshal Patel: He is RCB's 3rd highest wicket taker. Harshal 1st played for RCB in 2012 but he had his 1st breakout season in 2015 where he took 17 wkts. In a transfer deal, RCB got him from Delhi last season and entrusted him to bowl at the death. Harshal exceded everyone's expectations and took the joint most wkts in a single edition (32). He gets more dip than other bowlers which is the main reason his slower balls are difficult to put away. He created a record in last game by bowling 2 maidens and got the prized wkt of Andre Russell.

Budget picks: (Fantasy rating - 8.5 )

Mohammad Siraj: Mohammad Siraj is the most improved bowler in the past 2 years. His powerplay numbers are even more impressive with 12 wickets at 6.9 economy.

Must picks:

Shimron Hetmyer: Batting at 5/6 and attacking from ball 1 is a tough skill in t20 cricket and Hetmyer seems to have cracked it. Since 2020, he has scored 267 runs in the death overs at a SR of 208 with 21 sixes.

Trent Boult: Boult took 16 wkts in the Powerplay in 2020 and was one of the major reasons in MI's title wim. Krishna and Boult will form a good pair with the new ball. Since 2020, Boult has taken 22 wickets in the Powerplay and has a dot ball percentage of 57.

Fantasy XI