With the league-stage finally coming to a close after 58 days of enthralling cricket, IPL 2024 heads to the playoffs, with Rajasthan Royals (RR) all set to square off against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), at the iconic Narendra Modi Stadium, in Ahmedabad, on Wednesday, May 22.
Both teams enter the Royal Derby with contrasting recent performances and forms. While RR’s campaign has gone south, winning just a single game in their five games (including a washout), that too after having all the momentum in the world to land a top-2 finish after winning eight of their nine games earlier. On the other hand, RCB have recorded six wins on the trot, after their seventh loss in eight games against the Kolkata Knight Riders by an excruciating margin of just one run.
While RR have won only one of the three Eliminators they’ve featured in, RCB have a 50% win rate in the four they’ve played. Fascinatingly enough, both the teams have a win percentage of 60% in Ahmedabad, with RR winning nine out of 15 while RCB have won three out of their five games, respectively. Besides, the most-recent encounter between both these teams saw Virat Kohli and Jos Buttler notching up majestic centuries, as RR clinched the game by chasing down the 184-run target with five deliveries to spare.
Probable Playing XIs
Rajasthan Royals
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Sanju Samson (C & WK), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Dubey, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact Player: Sandeep Sharma
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Yash Dayal, Mohammed Siraj, Swapnil Singh
Impact Player: Suyash Prabhudessai