- Get link
- Other Apps
Welcome to a new segment, it is a match preview as we focus to give you a preview of the first match of the double headers weekend. It is RCB Vs RR. Both RCB and RR had lost their previous matches against KXIP and DC respectively, and are eager to get back to winning ways. In the previous match up between both the teams Virat Kohli's side came on top and that match got Kohli's form back.
RR were thoroughly outplayed in the reverse fixture and are waiting to pay RCB back and make their way in to the top 4. RCB even losing their previous game are sitting comfortably at 3rd place having won 5 out of their 8 matches. RR though are sitting along a dismal 7th place with a poor Net Run Rate and having lost 4 out of their last 5 games. Steve Smith has lost his form and as is Sanju Samson, once again inconsistent. So now let us look at the pitch report.
Pitch Report:
The Pitch at Dubai is expected to be fast and good for batting initially and is expected to slow down as the game progresses. Obviously the team which wins the toss has batting first in it's mind considering the slowing down factor. But Chasing can also be effective at Dubai where there is value for your shots everytime. In the last 5 games, Rajasthan are the only team that have won a match chasing a total in Dubai. So RR would have no objections of opting to bowl first at Dubai. But batting first would really favor the teams because there will be no due factor and due to the high temperature, the pitch is expected to leave up cracks and slow down as the game progresses. A team with good spinners is expected to get the most of this Dubai wicket. So my opinion, RCB have good spinners and RR have good ones too, so win the toss and bat first at Dubai.
Now let us get to the players who would be expected to be the spearheads for both teams in this match.
The Ones To Watch:
Virat Kohli-RCB:
Virat Kohli has really got his form back and he is consisitently scoring over 30's. Even in the last match, Kohli was the one who was moving the innings along well. In his last two outings here at Dubai, Virat had scores of 90 against CSK and 43 against DC. Also in the previous fixture Virat Scored 72 to help RCB win against RR very easily and it is no surprise that he might repeat it again.
Chris Morris-RCB:
Chris Morris has lifted up RCB with his bowling. Morris has so far bowled 12 overs in this IPL in 3 matches and has conceded only 58. In which two of the games were played in Sharjah. Last time he came back here at Dubai, he picked 3 wickets for just 17 runs against CSK. His Economy is ecstatic as well. And I'm glad that finally Virat has used his foreigners correctly.
He also showed everybody that he could also make a statement with the bat as he smacked a quick fire 25 against KXIP to get RCB to a decent total. So he might develop a big problem for RR.
Devdutt Padikal-RCB:
Padikkal is another exciting young talent that RCB have scouted and produced to Indian Cricket. The Kannadiga had a quiet night against KXIP but he scored a 50 last time against RR and is looking to take IPL by storm.
Ben Stokes-RR
Stokes finally came back to play after his father urged him to do so and he looked very rusty in the first game against SRH, but he quickly adapted to his new opening role at RR and he played superbly well in his second game against DC back here at Dubai. He threw his wicket off very cheaply, but showed a lot of promise. So it is no surprise that he could end up with the most number of fantasy points today.
Rahul Tewatia-RR
Tewatia has been the breakout star this year, having been wandered around different franchises for years. And I'm happy that finally he has found home at RR, the franchise with which he made his debut 6 years ago. He disappointed last time around, but he has two 30 plus scores in the last 3 matches including a great rescue act against SRH at Dubai a week ago. He is a very decent bowler and a decent batsman who has picked up form. So he is a dark horse to watch for today.
Jofra Archer-RR
Archer has simply been superb, both with ball and with the bat in is hand. He has been very economical whenever he is asked to bowl. He bowls well in the powerplay and bowls better than that in the Death.
Now, we have heard that some players are nearing some personal milestones, let us see what are those.
Virat Kohli: Needs 3 fours and 3 sixes to complete a tally of 500 fours and 200 sixes in IPL.
R.Uthappa: Needs 6 runs to total up 4500 runs in IPL Cricket.
A.De Villiers: Needs 46 runs to complete 4000 IPL Runs for RCB and has to take 3 catches to complete 100 catches in IPL.
That is it from the match preview and hope you will enjoy the game today and don't forget to come back here at sportscurator.blogspot.com sharply at 8.30 PM to get the match review for the RR vs RCB match.
Comments
Post a Comment