The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 match between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday will be a battle of the laggards. Both the sides have lost all three off their respective matches and have looked out of their depth.

They are the only winless sides in this year’s competition and will be battling to grab a first win of their sorry campaigns.

The Royals have lost their games against Kings XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings, while Royal Challengers Bangalore have lost against Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Rajasthan began their campaign against KXIP and looked a good bet to chase down the Punjab outfit’s challenging 185-run target. With Jos Buttler firing on all cylinders, the Royals seemed to be headed for an opening win at 108/1 but the England international’s controversial “Mankading” by Ravichandran Ashwin lead to an inexplicable collapse that saw them reduced to 170/9 in 20 overs—14 runs short of the KXIP total.

The 2008 IPL champions set up a steep 199-run target against Sunrisers Hyderabad but their bowling couldn’t contain the Hyderabad onslaught as they eased to victory with an over to spare.

In their last match against CSK, RR seemingly had the Chennai outfit on the mat, reducing them to 115 from their first 17 overs. But their death bowling leaked away 60 runs in the last three overs, leaving their batsmen a tough chase against the vastly-experienced CSK bowling attack. And they never looked in contention ultimately falling 8-run short.

The Royals’ batting has done a decent job so far but their bowling has failed to do their bit. The hugely-experienced Dhawal Kulkarni has struggled while Ben Stokes is yet to come good this season, but the biggest disappointment has been the record signing Jaydev Unadkat who has been carted all around.

In the given circumstances, Rajasthan need to make radical changes in order to improve their fortunes.

Unadkat needs to make way for Varun Aaron.

Ashton Turner, who smashed India to the smithereens in the fourth ODI during Australia’s recent tour of the country, has now joined the side following international duty and the Royals will need him to come good. His inclusion will come at the expense of Steve Smith.

Here’s Rajasthan Royals predicted XI for their game against RCB:

Predicted XI: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Jos Buttler (wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi, Ashton Turner, Ben Stokes, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni, Varun Aaron

First Published: Apr 02, 2019 11:42 IST