RCB vs RR Match Preview & Predication XI, First Day Game Of The Season
First day game of Dream 11 IPL will feature Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals. How the players will manage the heat (45 degrees) will be interesting to watch.
CHALLENGERS’ CHALLENGES
Too Much For Mr. 360 To Do
AB De Villiers aka Mr. 360 is one of the best T20 batsmen and has been an integral part of the RCB camp since years. But he’s 36 years old now and he’s been handed the keeping responsibility as well. Add on that the scorching heat of the middle-east and you get a very high chance of an injury.
Surely RCB doesn’t want their biggest weapon De Villiers to miss games due to an injury. RCB should look to manage his workload. He was exhausted and dehydrated after the last match and couldn’t come out for the post match presentation as well.
Kohli’s Poor Run
Kohli has thus far scored 14, 1 and 3 in his three innings. This is his lowest aggregate score in the entire IPL after the first 3 innings of a season. Players like Finch, Padikkal, and De Villiers are firing which gives Kohli a little more space to breathe. But he’s Kohli and he will be keen to get some runs under his belt.
Spin Strength
The spin attack of RCB looks intimidating. Sundar in the powerplay was brilliant against MI. Chahal and Zampa took some pounding at the death from Pollard and Kishan, but barring those overs, they looked in good touch.
Big Bucks Ready To Deliver?
The 10 crores purchase of RCB, Chris Morris was seen in the RCB practice session on the eve before their match against RR. If he’s fit and available for selection, Udana can make way for him. Morris’ arrival will give the death bowling of RCB some confidence and he can hit the long ball as well in the slog overs.
RAJASTHAN – OUT OF SHARJAH YET?
Rajasthan put up a poor batting performance against KKR. The batsmen were trying to launch each ball as if they were dealing with the short boundaries of Sharjah. An attitude shift in batting is what RR would be looking for.
Uthappa’s Place in Question
Uthappa has failed to play the anchor role around the explosiveness of Buttler, Samson and Smith too. Will he get another game or will the young Yashasvi Jaiswal, who a lot of people are excited to watch, come into the side?
Turning the tides – Steve Smith
In the recently concluded Australia’s tour of England, Smith batted at 3,4 and 5 in the three T20 matches respectively. But come the IPL and Steve Smith has turned up a different player altogether in the opening role. He has been striking at a rate of 150.
PREDICTED XI
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Aaron Finch, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli(c), AB De Villiers(wk), Shivam Dube, Gurkeerat Singh, Washington Sundar, Isuru Udana/Chris Morris, Navdeep Saini, Yuzi Chahal, Adam Zampa
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler(wk), Steve Smith(c), Robin Uthappa/Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Tom Curran, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Ankit Rajpoot/ Varun Aaron
DATE: 3rd October 2020
PLACE: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
TIME: 3:30 pm IST
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