Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the only two teams yet to win a game in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019, will be desperate to outdo each other in a clash of strugglers at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here on Tuesday.
Royal Challengers comes into the contest on the back of a huge defeat against Sunrisers
Jaipur:
Both teams have been more than disappointing thus far and need a win to revive their respective campaigns. Royals has failed to tighten the screws when it mattered most. In its first three matches, it was in good positions but could not grab the moments, losing to Kings XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings respectively.
In Chennai on Sunday, Royals had CSK reeling at 27 for three before skipper MS Dhoni smashed an unbeaten 75 off 46 balls to bail the host out of trouble and eventually win the match. “We win as a team and we lose as a team. If we win the smaller moments in T20s, we will do well. We have played well and hopefully with some luck, we’ll be able to turn it around,” said RR skipper Ajinkya Rahane after the loss against CSK.
Royals, which boasts of star players such as Steve Smith and Ben Stokes, has failed to live up to the expectations. In the first encounter against KXIP, the team’s bowlers leaked runs in the death overs and its batsmen too disappointed, in the final stages.
The batting and bowling units haven’t performed in tandem thus far in the eight-team competition. The likes of Sanju Samson, who hit the first ton of this IPL, Jos Buttler and Rahane have been good. Rahul Tripathi and Stokes also looked impressive against CSK, but Smith is yet to set the tournament on fire.
The host faces an equally hungry outfit in RCB, which is also looking to redeem itself. Its skipper Virat Kohli had conceded that the defeat against Sunrisers on Sunday was ‘one of its worst losses’. “We just need our players to put up a better challenge up front.
There are still 11 games to go. The pitch will be nice in Jaipur against the Royals. We need to bring our A-game, like we did against Mumbai (Indians) and play with that kind of intensity,” said Kohli after RCB’s third loss in a row. The tourist certainly has the resources in its ranks to beat the home side.
RCB has a destructive batting order comprising Kohli, AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Moeen Ali and Shimron Hetmyer. Both teams will also have to deal with the soaring heat in the Pink City, with temperatures nearing 40 degrees Celsius.