Hot Royal Challengers run into strong Royals
Match facts
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Start time 2000 local (14:30 GMT)
Big Picture
Rajasthan Royals are second on the table even though they haven't won their last three matches - two losses followed by a washout in Kolkata. Royal Challengers Bangalore, meanwhile, followed their three-match losing streak with two confident wins, the first of them coming against Royals in Ahmedabad. Margins of the two wins - nine wickets and 10 wickets.
But those two wins confirmed that their batting is heavily reliant on international stars. Their top three run-scorers are Virat Kohli (220), Chris Gayle (209) and AB de Villiers (176), who also bat in that order, and no other batsman has even put together 70 runs so far. That gives Royals an option of exposing a weak middle order comprising Dinesh Karthik, teenager Sarfaraz Khan and David Wiese. There are very few, if any, weaknesses in their attack. Mitchell Starc is in prime form, Yuzvendra Chahal is picking wickets regularly and Wiese is foxing batsmen with his slower ones in the middle overs.
Royals' last match was against Royal Challengers, which won't be a source of confidence for them. The Super-Over loss to Kings XI Punjab wouldn't have helped either. Compared to how they started the tournament, Royals too are facing middle-order woes after Ajinkya Rahane gives them a strong and stable start. To make it better for the batsmen, the part-time bowlers also need to make sure the hard work done by openers is not undone.
Form guide
Royal Challengers Bangalore WWLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Rajasthan Royals LLWWW
Watch out for...
He can bowl and he can bat. He can deceive by bowling slower and give an upper hand by batting quicker. David Wiese is proving to be a high-utility overseas player for Royal Challengers. He is a tad expensive but his variations in bowling is something batsmen take time to get used to. His IPL debut started with an unbeaten 25-ball 47 which took them within 19 runs of victory despite Mumbai Indians' score of 209. Maybe the optimum use of his batting utility is above his No. 7 spot.
He's the finisher for Australia, but his economy rate of 9.30 in seven matches is finishing James Faulkner's chances of being a certainty for the rest of the season if Royals don't start winning soon. He hasn't fired with the bat either, with 80 runs from six innings and a strike rate of 127. His role as a slower-ball bowler gets more important since Royals will look to stem the flow of runs at the small Chinnaswamy Stadium. Can he change it around?
Stats and trivia
- Shane Watson is one of the only two overseas players to have stuck around with his IPL team from the first season. His compatriot Shaun Marsh is the other, for Kings XI Punjab
- Mitchell Starc has the second-highest dot-ball percentage in the tournament so far. He had the highest in World Cup 2015
Quotes
"The past two performances is what RCB is all about. That does justice to the players we have."
A confident Varun Aaron about Royal Challengers' recent form.
Vishal Dikshit is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo