IPL 2022: On Thursday evening, table-toppers Rajasthan Royals will face another in-form team in Gujarat Titans at the DY Patil Stadium. Both the teams have 6 points each from 4 matches so far.
Sanju Samson’s side is coming off a close 3-run win over Lucknow Super Giants where they managed to escape a scare from Marcus Stoinis as young debutant Kuldeep Sen successfully defended 15 runs in the last over against the burly Australian. With Sen stepping up in his debut game, it could be argued that RR have the strongest bowling attack of all teams.
Hardik Pandya’s team, on the other hand, are coming off a loss – their first after winning their first three matches – at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad. The Titans also have a potent bowling attack but failed to defend 162 against SRH as Kane Williamson drove his side over the line.
Venue: DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai
CSK and RCB played a high-scoring contest just a day ago. However, in the case of Rajasthan and Gujarat, with two strong bowling attacks and both teams having batting as their weaker department, a high-scoring encounter is not expected, but the match could go down the wire with leg-spinners – Chahal and Rashid Khan – making big impacts.
RR news and predicted XI:
With five proper bowlers plus Riyan Parag’s part-time off-spin, there seems no reason for RR to change their eleven from the last game.
RR predicted XI: Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Rassie van der Dussen, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Kuldeep Sen, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal
GT news and predicted XI:
Gujarat would quickly want to forget their loss to SRH and return to winning ways. Even then, though, they are likely to bench Matthew Wade who has continued to struggle in Indian conditions – Wade has scored 56 runs at less than run-a-ball in 4 innings at the top of the order for GT.
Wriddhiman Saha, a much more attacking opener in T20s, is likely to replace Wade and the other option is Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz. If Saha replaces Wade, Alzarri Joseph could also come in for Darshan Nalkande, who has leaked runs at more than 11 an over. Pradeep Sangwan is another alternative experienced pacer in the squad.
GT predicted XI: Wriddhiman Saha/Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Abhinav Manohar, Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Darshan Nalkande/Alzarri Joseph/Pradeep Sangwan
Also Read: IPL 2022, Match 24: Fantasy Cricket Tips For RR vs GT
