In a battle of "Royals" in Ahmedabad tonight, a charged-up Rajasthan Royals (RR) will take on a rejuvenated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Qualifier 2 of the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). This fixture is expected to be a cliffhanger, as both teams have played excellent cricket this season to reach so far in the competition. A triumph here will secure them a date with home team Gujarat Titans in the title clash on Sunday.
Having narrowly lost the Qualifier 1 to Gujarat, Sanju Samson's Rajasthan will look to put up a better show, especially with ball. Their spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal and R. Ashwin, could not pick a single wicket in that match, which was one of the reasons they could not defend 189 at Eden Gardens. In Ahmedabad, the wicket generally assists spin, and Rajasthan will hope their spinners to extract purchase out of the surface. It will be interesting to see whether they back with Prasidh Krishna, who was hit for three consecutive sixes by David Miller in the final over, or play Kuldeep Sen.
Among batters, Jos Buttler will be a key figure for Rajasthan yet again. He holds this season's Orange Cap by some distance, and will be expected to get going yet again. They will also want other experienced batters like captain Samson and Shimron Hetmyer to step up in this crunch game to help end their long drought to make it to an IPL final first time after the inaugural season back in 2008.
On the other hand, Bangalore are coming into this game following consecutive wins over Gujarat and Lucknow, the latter largely due to the heroics of Rajat Patidar in the Eliminator. The top order, comprising skipper Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Patidar has done well of late. In the middle order, they need the likes of Glenn Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik to come up significant contributions yet again.
In the Eliminator, Harshal Patel demonstrated why is a threat in the death overs, whereas Josh Hazlewood bowled some brilliant yorkers. Wanindu Hasaranga was expensive in that game, but once again RCB will back him to get the breakthroughs in the middle overs.
Likely XIs
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, R. Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Obed McCoy
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Mahipal Lomror, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood
Fantasy tips
- Dew can play a crucial role in this game. Both captains will like to chase. Bank on the batters from the chasing team to get runs.
- Back Chahal and Ashwin to pick wickets.
- Back death bowlers like Harshal, Hazlewood and McCoy to take the bulk of the wickets.
Where to watch
Live streaming of the Qualifier 2 of IPL 2022 between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will start from 7.30 PM IST on May 27. You can watch the match on the Star Sports Network and Hotstar.