The Royals battle to transcend mid-table rat-race

Five defeats over their last six games had put the erstwhile table-toppers Rajasthan Royals outside the playoffs cutoff, but it took a record fastest IPL fifty and a resounding away win in Kolkata earlier this week to bring them back in contention for the knockouts. As they prepare to sign off from their home base this season, RR would hope to keep the winning streak going against an inconsistent Royal Challengers Bangalore contingent in Jaipur on Sunday.

Both teams are heading into the game with contrasting results in their previous outings - Rajasthan Royals swatted KKR aside by 9 wickets courtesy a Yashasvi Jaiswal special, whereas RCB were handed a thumping by Mumbai Indians, who chased down a 200-run target with 21 balls to spare. What RR's easy win has done is given their NRR a significant boost, meaning if they win both their remaining games and finish tied (with one or more teams) on 16 points, they have a healthy NRR of 0.633 to fall back upon which is only the second best among the current top-four.

It wasn't long ago that RCB had a real shot at breaking into the top-four, against a hapless Delhi Capitals, but their two losses since have dragged them back into the mid-table traffic jam. However, they do have an extra game in hand compared to their opponents on Sunday. RCB have struggled for momentum ever since the second half of the tournament began, dropping three of their four games in this intense battle for a playoffs spot. In a tightly-contested season like this, they can ill afford to lose another.

The Royals' win at the Eden Gardens was a complete all-round show with not just Jaiswal but also Yuzvendra Chahal rewriting the history books, as his four-fer made him the highest wicket-taker in the competition's history. As such, they are the team in form with the added home advantage.

RCB, on the other hand, are still suffering from their over-reliance on star batters who have done the bulk of scoring for the team throughout the season. Case in point - amongst the season's top 12 century partnerships, Bangalore account for half, and their captain Faf du Plessis has featured in all six, either with Virat Kohli or Glenn Maxwell. Now, their defeat in Mumbai also put the bowling under the scanner, after MI and Suryakumar Yadav made the 200 chase look like a cakewalk. At a ground with bigger boundaries, RCB will have to be at their absolute best in all three departments to not let yet another shot to make the playoffs slip away.

When: Sunday, May 14 at 3:30 PM IST

Where:Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

What to expect: The surface is likely to be on the slower side. Average first innings score in the four games thus far in Jaipur has been 172 this year. The captains here have preferred batting first in three of those four matches, but only once have been successful in defending their score.

Head to Head: RCB lead 14-12 in their overall history of 28 games (2 no-results) while in Jaipur it's a four-all stalemate. RCB though, have an upper hand with 6 wins, including one earlier in the season, to RR's 2, since 2020.

Teams

Rajasthan Royals

Tactics & Matchups: That RCB's batting is heavily reliant on their in-form openers and Maxwell is a well established fact. Besides one knock of significance from Mahipal Lomror, RCB's runs have mostly come from their right-handers, and puts the spotlight on Chahal, who boasts of an excellent record against the variety this season. The leggie has picked up 13 of his 21 wickets against right-handers, at an impressive economy rate of just 6.47.

Probable XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (C, wk), Joe Root, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma, KM Asif, Yuzvendra Chahal

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Tactics & Matchups: RCB captain and the current Orange Cap holder strikes at over 147 against Sandeep Sharma, and averages 51.5 against him. On the flipside though, Sandeep has dismissed du Plessis' opening partner, Kohli, 7 times in the IPL since 2011, making this PowerPlay battle one to watch out for.

Probable XI: Faf du Plessis (C), Virat Kohli, Anuj Rawat, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood

Did you know?

- Faf du Plessis needs 21 runs to enter the 4000-run club in IPL. He's also 5 fours away from hitting the 50 mark in the 2023 season.

-Yashasvi Jaiswal needs just 2 runs to overtake du Plessis and grab the Orange cap.

- Jos Buttler needs 8 runs to break into the 400-run club this year. He's also just one away from 150 career sixes in the tournament.