Rajasthan Royals, struggling to figure out their best lineup, will need to come up with some quick-fix measures to snap their three-match losing streak when they take on daunting Delhi Capitals in an IPL match today. Rajasthan Royals were off to a flying start, winning both their games but they have writhed to adjust to the larger grounds of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, slipping to three successive defeats.
However, Rajasthan will take inspiration from their two big wins here to turn things around against a dominant Delhi. Delhi Capitals, led by skipper Shreyas Iyer, have looked solid in all three departments, winning four out of their five matches. However, for RR, time is running out as they still have not been able to find their best playing lineup. Although the return of Ben Stokes will give them hope, the England allrounder is currently in quarantine and will be available only after October 11.
Moreover, the unexpected loss of form of skipper Steve Smith and Sanju Samson — who did majority of the scoring in the first two matches, is as much a reason for their failure as the lack of runs from the Indian batsmen in the team. Rajasthan did try to rearrange their line-up against Mumbai Indians by including ace batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal and bowler Kartik Tyagi and Ankit Rajpoot in the playing eleven but it didn’t change their fortunes.
Jaiswal was out for a second-ball duck at the top, and Rajpoot went for 42 in his three overs. However, young Tyagi showed promise with his one for 36. Again, good news for RR is the return to form of opener Jos Buttler, who scored a fine 44-ball 70 in their last game. In bowling, Jofra Archer and Tom Curran have been left to do the heavy lifting, while spinner Rahul Tewatia has not been to produce the breakthroughs consistently.
Delhi, contrastingly, have been an efficacious brigade, boosting of a solid bowling unit which is well supported by the batsmen. Skipper Iyer has been in good form, and opener Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant have done their job well. Marcus Stonis too has produced two smashing fifties so far.
On the bowling front, Kagiso Rabada has looked threatening with 12 wickets to emerge as the best bowler in the IPL so far. Proteas pacer Anrich Nortje too has delivered when the team needed him to. Harshal Patel, as Ishant Sharma’s replacement, did very well against KKR with 2 for 34 but he conceded 43 in their last match.