IPL 2023: Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans will clash to claim the top spot
(with improvement in net runrate in the ninth par) Jaipur, May 4 (IANS) The Indian Premier League table-toppers Gujarat Titans will look to topple their top-order when they take on Rajasthan Royals at their home ground on Friday. Better performance will be expected from the batsmen. This team, led by Hardik Pandya, lost to Delhi Capitals by five runs in their last low-scoring match. The team is at the top of the table with 12 points while Rajasthan is at the fourth position with 10 points.
There is no dearth of talent in the Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals but the team has failed to register consistent wins. In the last six matches, the team has won three matches while it has faced defeat in three. The problem with Rajasthan Royals lies more in the bowling. The team had failed to defend a mammoth target of 212 against Mumbai in the last match. Fast bowler Trent Boult, all-rounder Jason Holder, spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Sen scored a lot of runs in that match. They would be hoping for a better performance at home on Friday.
The Royals can take some solace from the fact that they won against Gujarat Titans at the start of the season. Rajasthan’s batting is very strong. Apart from young Yashasvi Jaiswal, who played a century in the last match, the trio of Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer can turn the tide of any match on their own. This batting unit, however, will have to be careful against the bowling attack led by Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan. If Rajasthan team wins this matchTi, the team will top the table due to better net runrate (+0.800).
The Titans batsmen, on the other hand, will have to put behind their poor performance against Delhi Capitals. The team failed to chase down the target of 130 runs due to the failure of Shubman Gill and David Miller, who were in excellent rhythm against Delhi Capitals. Captain Pandya kept the team in the match till the end by scoring a half-century, but his and Rahul Tewatia’s fast innings did not prove to be enough for the team. The team’s bowling, however, is strong with Mohammed Shami in fine touch. In the spin department, Rashid and another Afghanistan player Noor Ahmed are performing brilliantly.
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Teams :: Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (captain & wk), Abdul Basith, Murugan Ashwin, Ravichandran Ashwin, KM Asif, Trent Boult, Jos Buttler, KC Cariappa, Yuzvendra Chahal, Donovan Ferreira, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Obed McCoy, Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Kunal Singh Rathor, Joe Root, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Kuldeep Sen, Akash Vashisht, Kuldeep Yadav, Adam Zampa. Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Shubman Gill, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudarshan, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Pradeep Sangwan, Darshan Nalkande , Jayant Yadav, R. Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmed, Dasun Shanaka, Odion Smith, KS Bharath, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Joshua Little and Mohit Sharma. Match time: 7.30 pm onwards.
