Match details
Match: Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Qualifier 2, Friday, 27 May 2022
Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
Time: 7:30 pm (IST)
Where to Watch: Star Sports Network | Disney+ Hotstar
Preview
Qualifier 2 of the 2022 TATA Indian Premier League brings us live action from the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad for the clash between the Rajasthan Royals and the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The Rajasthan Royals conceded defeat in Qualifier 1 against the Gujarat Titans. Since they finished second in the league stage, their Qualifier 1 loss left them with another shot at glory in the upcoming Qualifier 2. The Royal Challengers Bangalore, on the other hand, claimed their spot in the Qualifier 2 via a hard-fought victory in the Eliminator over the Lucknow Super Giants.
The winner of this match will secure their spot in the Final of the tournament against the Gujarat Titans. The losing team, on the other hand, will be eliminated.
The Royals are coming into this game off the back of a defeat suffered against the Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1. Batting first, the RR scored a decent total of 188 for the loss of 6 wickets. Jos Buttler went on to score a brilliant 89 off 56 balls after being dropped thrice in the innings. Captain Sanju Samson also played his part by playing a quick-fire innings of 47 off 28 balls. At one point during the Titans chase, it looked like the total would prove too much for them, but thanks to the heroics of David Miller and Hardik Pandya, who scored 68 off 38 balls and 40 off 27 balls respectively, the game was taken away from the Royals in the final overs.
The Royal Challengers, on the other hand, finished the league stage in fourth place. The Mumbai Indians handed them an opportunity to qualify for the Eliminator by beating the Delhi Capitals in the final game of the league stage. The RCB graciously grabbed this opportunity and beat the Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator, in which their bowling department did a spectacular job in stopping Lucknow from chasing their total. Batting first, the RCB scored a massive total of 207/4. Rajat Patidar was their hero as he rose to the occasion and delivered a masterclass to help the team. Scoring 112 runs off 54 balls, Rajat earned multiple records on the day: fastest century in IPL 2022, first RCB player to score a century in the Playoffs, and first uncapped player to score a century in the Playoffs. During their chase, although Lucknow looked in commanding position with the efforts of KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda, Josh Hazlewood and Harshal Patel came up with magical spells, eventually taking the game away from the LSG as Bangalore secured a 14-run victory.
Pitch report
This is the first time that a match is being played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in this edition of the IPL. The stadium has six red soil pitches and five black soil pitches. The characteristics of the soil will play a big role on how the pitch behaves. The temperature is expected to be around 29°C and not humid.
Probable playing XIs
Rajasthan Royals
Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Obed McCoy, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal
Bench: Navdeep Saini, Rassie van der Dussen, KC Cariappa, Daryl Mitchell, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Anunay Singh, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Garhwal, Karun Nair,, Kuldeep Sen, James Neesham
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Josh Hazlewood, Mohammed Siraj
Bench: Akash Deep, Sherfane Rutherford, Siddarth Kaul, Karn Sharma, Chama V Milind, S Prabhudessai, Finn Allen, Anuj Rawat, Luvnith Sisodia, Aneeshwar Gautam, David Willey, Jason Behrendoff
Head-to-head
Matches played: 27 | Rajasthan Royals: 11 | Royal Challengers Bangalore: 13
Last five matches: Rajasthan Royals: 1 | Royal Challengers Bangalore: 4
Batter to watch out for: Jos Buttler
Jos Buttler has been exceptional throughout the tournament and is the leading run-scorer with 718 runs from his 15 innings. He was the star performer of his side with the bat in the last game as he managed to score 89 runs in just 56 balls. The Royals will again be hoping for Buttler to put up a big show and help them to project a massive score on the board and qualify for the Final.
Bowler to watch out for: Yuzvendra Chahal
Though it will a fight between Yuzvendra Chahal and Wanindu Hasaranga for the Purple Cap, the former will mostly likely edge the latter in this fixture given the experience he has and the fire he has shown to perform well against his former team, who dropped him in favour of Hasaranga.
Fantasy XI
Jos Buttler (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (vc), Wanindu Hasaranga, Yuzvendra Chahal, Josh Hazlewood, Harshal Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin
Match prediction
Given the might, spirit and hunger for their maiden IPL trophy, the Royal Challengers Bangalore are my favourites to emerge victorious in this fixture.