Jaipur, Apr 18: An inconsistent Rajasthan Royals will be desperate to plug the holes across departments and halt a three-match losing streak when they host Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League here on Saturday.
With just two wins from seven games, the Royals are languishing at eighth on the table and come into the contest on the back of a gut-wrenching Super Over defeat to Delhi Capitals.
As the league hits the halfway mark, they’ll need to shake off the heartbreak quickly if they hope to upstage Rishabh Pant’s men and climb out of the bottom half.
Plagued by inconsistency in both batting and bowling, RR’s campaign has struggled to find momentum. To make matters worse, skipper Sanju Samson suffered a side strain in the previous match and had to retire hurt, though he later said he was feeling “alright.”
The Royals’ batting, built around Indian mainstays, has mis-fired far too often, leaving the middle order exposed and under pressure.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, however, seems to have shaken off his rustiness with back-to-back half centuries against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and DC. But it will have to be seen if he carries the momentum in Saturday’s match.
Samson is yet to produce a defining knock, with the 66 he made in RR’s first match against Sunrisers Hyderabad being his best so far. A lot will depend on his and Jaiswal’s form regarding how RR fare against the likes of Shardul Thakur, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Rathi and Ravi Bishnoi.
Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel have not made much contribution so far in the batting front and duo need to fire if RR have to post or chase down a big total.
Nitish Rana came back to form with a 51 against DC after the 81 he made against Chennai Super Kings last month, and he needs to carry on the momentum.
On the bowling front, Jofra Archer has slowly gotten into his groove.
But the Royals’ attack as a whole has been toothless. Apart from Sandeep Sharma, their other bowlers have struggled to control the scoring rate.
LSG also head into Saturday’s match after losing to CSK but they are in a much better position currently, with their four wins from seven matches keeping them at fifth spot.
Their batting form has been impressive overall with Nicholas Pooran (357 runs from seven matches) and Mitchell Marsh (295 from six matches) in top form. Pooran and Marsh are in top and third sports in the batting chart.
South African Aiden Markram has also been among runs though compatriot David Miller’s form has been a worry with 27 as his highest score in seven matches.
LSG have scored more than 200 runs in three matches and above 160 in all the other games.
Fortunately for LSG also, captain Pant has shown some form with 63 off 49 balls against CSK, his first fifty in this IPL from seven matches, though in a losing cause.
LSG’s bowling was their weakest link at the start of the competition with injuries to main pacers but made amends later thanks to some on and off performances from Avesh Khan, and Shardul Thakur.
India’s fastest bowler Mayank Yadav has joined the squad after the last game but the team management is still awaiting his fitness certificate from the Centre of Excellence.
Mayank has been recuperating from multiple fitness issues including a lower back stress fracture.
The Teams (From):
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubham Dubey, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel (w), Shimron Hetmyer, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kunal Singh Rathore, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Kwena Maphaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Ashok Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi.
Lucknow Super Giants: Rishabh Pant (c&wk), David Miller, Aiden Markram, Aryan Juyal (wk), Himmat Singh, Matthew Breetzke, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Arshin Kulkarni, Ayush Badoni, Shardul Thakur, Avesh Khan, Akash Deep, Manimaran Siddharth, Digvesh Rathi, Akash Singh, Shamar Joseph, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi.
Match Starts at 7:30pm. (PTI)
