Rajasthan Royals will have Wanindu Hasaranga available for selection against RCB
Shashank Kishore12-Apr-20253:26
Can Archer continue his wicket-taking streak?
Big picture: RR, RCB look to bounce back from defeatsIf adapting to one home venue has been a challenge for some of the teams, imagine being in Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) shoes – they have to adapt to two. After completing their initial matches in Guwahati, they return to the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, nearly three weeks into IPL 2025, hoping to bounce back from an inconsistent start.And they run into a team, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), that has been in exceptional away form: they beat Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede for the first time in ten years, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chepauk for the first time in 17 years, and have also taken down defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens.RCB average 39.6 per wicket and score at 10.5 an over when on the road, while at home, these numbers come down to 22.1 and 8.3, respectively. With the ball, too, they have shown great control (average 21.2) when away, as against a leaky 56.4 at home. They had time to acclimatise during their travels earlier this season but they face a short turnaround now. It’s only been two nights since their loss to Delhi Capitals (DC).Related
Samson backs himself to lead Royals youngsters to IPL glory
The horror! You have to graft for runs at the Chinnaswamy now
Team combination continues to be a problem for Royals
RR, too, suffered a tough loss to Gujarat Titans (GT), but their bowling jigsaw is slowly coming together. Their powerplay bowlers have improved as the season has progressed, with Jofra Archer looking far more potent. Sandeep Sharma has also been a lot more consistent and, crucially, has the wood over Virat Kohli, having dismissed him more often than any other bowler in the IPL – seven times in 16 innings.Apart from those sub-plots, the Indian firepower on offer from the two sides could make this a compelling contest: Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Nitish Rana and Dhruv Jurel on one side, and Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar and Jitesh Sharma on the other.Form guideRajasthan Royals LWWLL
Royal Challengers Bengaluru LWLWWTeam news and likely XIIsSamson said Wanindu Hasaranga rejoined the team last night and is available for selection.Rajasthan Royals (probable): 1 Sanju Samson (capt, wk), 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Riyan Parag, 5 Dhruv Jurel, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Tushar Deshpande/Kumar Kartikeya, 11 Sandeep Sharma, 12 Fazalhaq FarooqiRCB are unlikely to tinker with their combination right now, although Jacob Bethell offers a left-hand option in the middle order if they feel the need to replace the patchy Liam Livingstone.Royal Challengers Bengaluru (probable): 1 Phil Salt, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Liam Livingstone/Jacob Bethell, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Tim David, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Yash Dayal, 12 Suyash Sharma2:15
Is 2025 finally going to be RCB’s year?
In the spotlight: Jofra Archer and Liam LivingstoneJofra Archer has found his rhythm in the last few matches, consistently bowling at speeds in the upper 140s kph and showing hostility with the new ball. After a poor start – he went at 16.8 runs per over in his first two games – Archer has redeemed himself by taking five wickets in the three subsequent matches, maintaining a much-improved economy rate of 6.2.Liam Livingstone started the season with plenty of promise with bat and ball but has suffered a slump since. He is coming off scores of 0 and 4 in his last two games. With the ball, he has bowled two overs across the last three matches. RCB would hope for a revival from Livingstone to shore up what has otherwise been a robust middle-order.The big questionPitch and conditionsThe temperature in Jaipur can go up to about 38 degrees Celsius, which will make this an energy sapping afternoon game (3.30pm start). The challenge for the curators would be to ensure the surface isn’t too dry, unless that’s the instruction from the home team, which, going by the events at the IPL this season so far, may or may not be heeded.Stats and trivia Kohli is one fifty away from becoming just the second batter after David Warner to reach 100 T20 half-centuries. He’s also one short of matching Warner’s record of 66 IPL fifties. RR boast the best powerplay run rate this season – 10.7 per over. Kohli is RCB’s all-time highest run-scorer with 8614 runs. No other Indian features in the top six before we find Rahul Dravid (1132 runs). Patidar and Padikkal are just 15 and 37 runs away, respectively, from getting to the 1000-run mark.Quotes”We’d like to stick in and respect the conditions and do what the condition requires. We don’t want to end up being a team that’s only good at defending totals. We also want to win games while chasing, not just while batting first.”