Royal Challengers seek revenge at Jaipur

Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
Monday, April 23rd 8 pm
Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur

Royal Challengers Bangalore will play their second away game on the trot when they come up against the Rajasthan Royals at the SMS Stadium in Jaipur.

RR dealt RCB a 59 run defeat at Bangalore just a week ago but RCB have recovered from that loss to post two hard fought victories against PWI and KXIP. RR chased down another big total at home against DC but slipped up away against CSK with rank bad decisions adding to the problems.

Chris Gayle has been the man behind the RCB renaissance and it looks like he’s added a dimension to his batting, playing out the rough passages before he cut loose against both PWI and KXIP and put his team on the verge of victory.

The Jaipur pitch has been batsman friendly and the boundaries are small, he will definitely want to cash in as will AB de Villiers who was another crucial part of the team’s last two wins.

The team may also want to bring in Dilshan in place of Andrew McDonald to make good use of the ground conditions and slam a whirlwind knock. Virat Kohli is another batsman who will want to deliver and he should get his opportunity to outshine Ajinkya Rahane who played the innings of the season at Bangalore in their previous clash.

The RCB bowlers will remember Rahane and will be prepared for him though they will miss Muralitharan if either McDonald or Dilshan play instead. They must take on the might of Dravid, Rahane, Shah and Hodge with a plan and keep the intensity at a maximum.

The Royals themselves will want to reconsider sending Menaria ahead of Hodge. The latter is an established T20 batting legend while the former just lost them a game with his very slow scoring.

Kevon Cooper sealed his place as Johan Botha’s replacement with his good show at Chennai, Hogg too was wonderful so RR may play unchanged and Stuart Binny will go up against his Ranji state-mates.

RCB aren't overtly reliant on Gayle but you wouldn't be able to tell that from his consistently match winning knocks. Royal Challengers have the players to scrape them to a win when needed. They will also be fired up by a need for revenge and will do well to that channel that aggression.

It’s the royal rumble once again and the result could shape an important point in the campaigns of the respective teams.