Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s LIVE coverage of the Indian Premier League 2022 match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals from the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune.
RR 33/3 in 5 overs: OUT! Buttler is gone. Flat-bats a good-length delivery from Hazlewood to mid-on. Jos Buttler c Mohammed Siraj b Josh Hazlewood 8(9b 1×4). Mitchell is in and starts off with a couple of dot balls. Mitchell is yet to get off the mark. It’s four dot balls in a row. Play and a miss as Mitchell goes fetching wide outside off and misses. Maiden wicket for Hazlewood.
RR 33/2 in 4 overs: Siraj steams in and angles it into Ashwin, who defends it back to the bowler. Slightly shorter, Ashwin tries to pull but it is not short enough and ends up jabbing it to short mid-wicket. FOUR! Ashwin hangs back and cuts this short-of-length delivery behind point for a boundary. FOUR! Ashwin is acing his job as a pinch-hitter. Slightly fuller, the ball holds its line and Ashwin hacks across the line and sends it to the deep mid wicket boundary. Definitely didn’t middle it but had enough power behind it. OUT! Dug in short, Ashwin goes for the pull and gets a top edge that goes high and Siraj settles under it with ease. Ravichandran Ashwin c & b Mohammed Siraj 17(9b 4×4).
RR 25/1 in 3 overs: Buttler shuffles across outside off to Hazlewood first ball and misses trying to flick a good-length ball on leg-side. Fuller next ball and Buttler defends. FOUR! Buttler gets a thick inside edge trying to slash outside off and it runs away past DK behind the stumps and to the boundary. Two more singles follow as Hazlewood bowls it on a tight length in and around off stump. Dot to end the over.
RR 19/1 in 2 overs: SIX! Full outside off and Padikkal clatters this first ball from Siraj straight down the ground and over long-off. A bit shorter next ball, angling away and Padikkal almost chops on trying to run it down to third-man. Beaten! Another good-length delivery nips away to beat Padikkal’s outside edge as he hangs his bat in the channel. Loud LBW appeal and given out! Full and on middle and leg; Padikkal misses the flick and has reviewed the umpire’s decision. DRS confirms it was hitting middle stump and Padikkal has to go. Devdutt Padikkal lbw b Mohammed Siraj 7(7b 0x4 1×6). FOUR! Ashwin is in at number three and starts by clipping a full ball on the middle to deep square leg for a boundary. FOUR! Two in two for Ashwin as he drives the next one through covers and to the rope.
RR 5/0 in 1 over: Jos Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal are out to open the innings for Rajasthan Royals. Royal Challengers will start with spin as Shahbaz Ahmed has taken the new ball. Buttler goes back and drives through mid-off for a first ball single. Wide down leg-side next ball. Full on the pads and flicked to square leg for a dot ball by Padikkal. Good-length ball on leg stump and tucked off his hips to short fine for another dot. Padikkal is off the mark with a single through mid-on. Buttler collects two more with a front-foot drive to long-off. Inside-edge onto Buttler’s pads to end the over.
RCB VS RR PLAYING XI
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Suyash Prabhudessai, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj.
Rajasthan Royals: Devdutt Padikkal, Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Sanju Samson (c)(wk), Riyan Parag, Daryl Mitchell, Trent Boult, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal.
TOSS: RCB wins toss and elects to bowl. Rajat Patidar replaces Anuj Rawat and Faf du Plessis confirms that Virat Kohli will open the batting. Two changes for Rajasthan Royals – Daryl Mitchell and Kuldeep Sen come in for Karun Nair and Obed McCoy.
PITCH REPORT: Same pitch as the Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders game where Pat Cummins took the tournament by storm with his batting. The square boundaries are 63m and 67m. There is a covering of grass and the wicket is quite flat but it is a bit abrasive under the layer of grass which may lead to the ball gripping a bit.
IPL 2022 IN PUNE (STATS)
Average first innings score: 177
Highest first innings score: 210/6 (RR vs SRH)
Highest successful run-chase: 170/7 (GT vs CSK)
IPL 2022 IN PUNE (RESULTS)
GT beat CSK by three wickets (April 17)
Punjab beat MI by 12 runs (April 13)
RCB beat MI by seven wickets (April 09)
KKR beat MI by five wickets (April 05)
GT beat DC by 14 runs (April 02)
RR beat SRH by 61 runs (March 29)
RR VS RCB (LAST FIVE MATCHES)
RCB beat RR by four wickets (April 5, 2022)
RCB beat RR by seven wickets (September 29, 2021)
RCB beat RR by 10 wickets (April 22, 2021)
RCB beat RR by seven wickets (October 17, 2020)
RCB beat RR by eight wickets (October 3, 2020)
RCB VS RR PREDICTED XI
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Anuj Rawat, Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Shahbaz Ahmed, Suyash Prabhudessai, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj.
Rajasthan Royals: Devdutt Padikkal, Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Sanju Samson (c) (wk), Riyan Parag, Karun Nair, Trent Boult, Ravichandran Ashwin, Obed McCoy, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal.
MATCH PREVIEW
After a disastrous outing a few days ago, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will be keen to course correct when it takes on Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Tuesday.
An inept batting display saw RCB fold for 68 against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday, leading to a crushing nine-wicket defeat. The form of RCB’s star batter Virat Kohli, who averages 17 in eight outings, is under the scanner. Kohli has been dismissed for two consecutive golden ducks, and will be desperate to turn the corner with a big knock on Tuesday.
Dinesh Karthik, who has excelled as a finisher this season, may be required to play saviour yet again.
Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, who has made an impact in his limited appearances thus far, will lead the RCB attack.
The Royals enter this encounter full of confidence, having notched up victories in their previous two games. Opening batter Jos Buttler is in great touch, with centuries to his name in the last two outings. The consistent trio of Sanju Samson, Devdutt Padikkal and Shimron Hetmyer will be expected to provide support to the marauding Buttler.
On the bowling front, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Bengaluru pacer Prasidh Krishna have been among the wickets.
RR and RCB are level on 10 points, but RR has a match in hand.
THE SQUADS
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahbaz Ahmed, David Willey, Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Siddarth Kaul, Karn Sharma, Chama V Milind, Rajat Patidar, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Suyash Prabhudessai, Aneeshwar Gautam.
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c) (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna, Karun Nair, James Neesham, Rassie van der Dussen, KC Cariappa, Daryl Mitchell, Obed McCoy, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Garhwal.
WHERE AND WHEN TO WATCH RR VS RCB IPL 2022 MATCH LIVE?
| The IPL 2022 match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals will be aired LIVE on the Star Sports Network at 7:30 PM IST on Tuesday, April 26. The match will also be live streamed on Disney+Hotstar. |