Rajasthan takes on Bangalore in the first double-header game on Saturday in Indian T20 League 2020
Match Timings: Oct 17, 3:30 PM
Match Preview
Tactical Bangalore lock horns with shaky Rajasthan in the first Saturday fixture. Both sides lost their previous game but Bangalore are in a good position at the points table. In the previous outing, Bangalore fought hard, despite so many errors in the field. Kohli tried ABD at number 6 and it proved costly. It was Morris who smashed 24 in last over to cross 170. Chahal would have bowled the 17th or 18th over to make the game more closely. Finch’s start is still a worrying sign and the bowling unit was again exposed. Skipper didn’t try Sundar in powerplay when Bangalore needed much-needed breakthrough. Kohli made experiments and it delivered a defeat. Standing at 3rd, Bangalore cannot digest the downfall in the second half. Despite the loss, Bangalore is likely to go ahead with the same XI on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan should blame themselves for the unexpected batting collapse against Delhi. With requiring 39 off 30 balls, they lost the game by 13 runs after an amateur batting show. Rajasthan’s bowling has been improved from a couple of games but they are still lacking in batting unit. Samson and Smith both have been poor with the bat after scoring heavy runs in first two games at Sharjah. Uthappa showed some calibre which is a positive sign. Stokes made a good start and his performance will surely boost their playoff games. With six more games to go, Rajasthan needs at least five more wins to crack the top four. The toss might be a big thing, Rajasthan can be dependant. They have the attack who can defend a total.
Pitch Report
Dubai’s surface is handy for batting and it offers plenty of help to bowlers, especially the spinners. The track gets slow in the middle but being the day game, we might expect a good spin in both innings.
Possible Lineups
Rajasthan
Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Steven Smith (c), Sanju Samson, Robin Uthappa, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi
Bangalore
Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
Key Players
Rajasthan
Rahul Tewatia
This season – M: 8, Runs: 203, Avg: 40.60, Wickets: 5
Jofra Archer
This season – M: 8, Wickets: 12, Avg: 17.50
Bangalore
Virat Kohli
This season – M: 8, Runs: 304, Avg: 60.80
Devdutt Padikkal
This season – M: 8, Runs: 261, Avg: 32.62
