IPL 2018

Royals face combination puzzle as defending champions visit

by Ganesh Chandrasekaran • Last updated on

Rajasthan Royals' overseas signings are yet to play up to potential. © BCCI

The points table doesn't probably give an accurate reflection of how these two sides have fared in the Indian Premier League 2018 so far. Rajasthan Royals are ahead on points but have a lot to worry about going into their sixth game of the tournament while Mumbai Indians, despite three losses in their first three outings, will take comfort after registering their first win of the tournament. For the latter, things are just about falling into place while the former battles to find the right combination and create some momentum.

Rajasthan Royals bank heavily on their first eleven to fire consistently but a number of key players such as Jaydev Unadkat and their overseas signings are yet to play up to potential. Barring Sanju Samson (in the first three games), their batsmen have failed to click collectively and a lot rests on how they tackle their batting order problems. Who is the ideal partner for Ajinkya Rahane at the top? D'Arcy Short and Heinrich Klaasen have been tried so far to no avail and with each failure the cries to move Rahul Tripathi up the order increase. Tripathi has been given the role of a finisher at the Royals but has not got the time to be as effective as he was with Rising Pune SuperGiant last year. At the start of the tournament, their spin bowling was considered to be the weaker suit but K Gowtham and Shreyas Gopal have managed to shore them up quite efficiently even as the pacers falter. With lack of strength in the back-ups, the Royals have the unenviable task of finding form in a tournament that doesn't allow much breathing space.

No such worries for Mumbai Indians who have seen runs come at some stage from their top five batsmen, while the bowling hasn't been too bad. That they've looked in good touch overall despite minimal contributions from the likes of Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard shows their overall strength. Small margins in their losses have resulted in Mumbai Indians still having a positive net run-rate. A game against a troubled Royals will probably be best suited for their bid to gain some momentum after their previous win.

When: April 22 at 20:00 IST

Where: Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur

What to expect: No forecast of rain bodes well for the game.

Team News

Rajasthan Royals:They took a few gambles which didn't work out against Chennai Super Kings. There was merit in choosing Klaasen over D'Arcy Short but the move to make him open didn't go in their favour. That they have someone like Tripathi in the line-up could force another batting order change. Meanwhile, the wait for Jofra Archer to get fit continues. Dhawal Kulkarni could get his place back at the expense of Stuart Binny.

Probable XI: Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Heinrich Klassen, Jos Buttler, K Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Ben Laughlin, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni

Mumbai Indians:Despite losing their first three games, Mumbai Indians will be pretty happy with their team combination. They earned a comfortable win against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their previous outing and are unlikely to make any changes to that eleven. Ishan Kishan, who walked off after sustaining an injury near the eye, has resumed practice and is likely to be passed fit for the Sunday clash.

Probable XI:Suryakumar Yadav, Evin Lewis, Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mayank Markande, Jasprit Bumrah, Mustafizur Rahman

Stats and Trivia

Head to Head of teams: RR 6 - 10 MI

Team Record at the venue: RR 3 - 2 MI

Interesting face-offs

Samson vs McClenaghan: Samson has been dismissed by the left-arm seamer four times in 11 deliveries including three dismissals off the last three balls. No other bowler has dismissed him more than twice in IPL.

Stokes vs wrist spin: Against wrist spin, Stokes has averaged 13.50 for four dismissals at a strike-rate of 105.88. He has got out to a wrist spinner in all his last three innings - Chahal, Chawla and Tahir.

Approaching milestones

Samson needs 64 more runs to become the fifth player to score 1000 runs for RR in IPL.

Venue trends

Before the start of this IPL, MI were the only visiting side to successfully chase 150+ in Jaipur - 163/0 in 2012.

IPL 2018 trends

RR have been the slowest starters in IPL scoring at only 7.80 in the powerplays compared to the tournament average of 9.15. Their run rate of 7.47 is also the lowest among sides this IPL.

MI average only 17.31 with the ball in the middle overs (7-15) taking 16 wickets in this phase. On the other hand, RR has been the worst team in this phase with the ball having taken only eight wickets at 36.88 apiece.

Quotes

The past is only a confidence-booster as far as I'm concerned. It's a fresh team, it's a new game, they have a good side. As we've seen in this tournament, everyone's beaten the other guy. So it's important to make sure that we focus on what we want to do. They're coming out of two losses, two back-to-back losses which I'm pretty sure will put some pressure on them. They had a really bad loss against Chennai. So we will certainly make it known to them, that they've lost pretty badly- Robin Singhpulls no punches ahead of MI's clash against RR.

© Cricbuzz

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