New Delhi: Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore will aim to maintain their winning streak when they take on a confident Rajasthan Royals in the 43rd match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 Phase 2 at Dubai International Stadium. RCB is high on confidence after their emphatic win over defending champs Mumbai Indians in their previous match.
Royal Challengers Bangalore are currently on the third spot in IPL 2021 Points Table with 12 points from ten games. If the Red Brigade beats Rajasthan Royals in today's match, they will almost cement a place in the IPL Season 14 playoffs. On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals have eight points from 10 IPL games and today they take on a flamboyant opponent in a must-win game. If they lose, it'll weaken their chances of making it to the playoffs.
RCB did not have the best of starts when they started their UAE campaign as the team faced two back-to-back defeats. First Kolkata Knight Riders defeated them by 9 wickets and then they were outclassed by Chennai Super Kings. Bangalore returned to winning ways, in the last match against Mumbai. Kohli too returned back to form and scored his second consecutive half-century. Glenn Maxwell too contributed with a valuable 56 off 37 balls.
Talking about Rajasthan Royals, they kicked-off their UAE campaign by winning their first match by two runs, but after getting off to a great start, RR lost two matches. Apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal and captain Sanju Samson none of RR batsmen have managed to fire with the bat. After getting out for just four runs in RR's first match, Samson scored 70 and 82 runs in the next two games. Among Rajasthan bowlers, Karthik Tyagi, Chetan Sakariya and Mustafizur Rahman have so far bowled well.
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (capt), Liam Livingstone, Evin Lewis, David Miller, Chris Morris, Oshane Thomas, Mustafizur Rahman, Tabrez Shamsi, Glenn Phillips, Chetan Sakaria, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Akash Singh, Anuj Rawat, KC Cariappa, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dubey, Shreyas Gopal, Karthik Tyagi, Mayank Markande, Jaydev Unadkat, Kuldeep Yadav, Mahipal Lomror.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), Navdeep Saini, Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christian, Rajat Patidar, Dushmantha Chamira, Pawan Deshpande, Mohammad Siraj, Harshal Patel, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sachin Baby, Wanindu Hasaranga, George Garten, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shahbaz Ahmed, Devdutt Padikkal, Kyle Jameson, Suyash Prabhudesai, KS Bharat, Tim David, Akash Deep, AB de Villiers.