Rajasthan aim to return to winning ways against Mumbai; confident CSK up against SRH
JAIPUR: Rajasthan Royals will aim to bounce back after suffering two consecutive losses, while Mumbai Indians will be in search of their second win when they face-off in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Sunday.
With two wins and three defeats, Rajasthan are placed fifth with four points, while Mumbai are sixth with one win in four games. But the good thing for Mumbai is that their sole win came in their last match -- a 46-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday.
Hence, Rajasthan have a lot to worry about. Rajasthan started their IPL 2018 campaign on a poor note, hammered by Sunrisers Hyderabad by 9 wickets. They however, gained momentum and registered two back-to-back wins against Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Later, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings outclassed them by seven wickets and 64 runs respectively.
In the past two matches, neither Rajasthan’s batsmen nor their bowlers have delivered. Against KKR, they could only post 160 and allowed the visitors to chase down the target with ease. Against CSK, Rajasthan bowlers were taken to cleaners by veteran Australian all-rounder Shane Watson, who blasted a 106 off 57 deliveries. Rajasthan then were bowled out for 140, with no one, barring Ben Stokes (45) offering any resistance.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane has looked good but has not been converting good starts into big scores. Sanju Samson, Stokes and Rahul Tripathi have been inconsistent.
Raj a st han’ s bowlers--kg ow th am and Ben Laughlin -- have performed well while leggie Shreays Gopal has also been economical. But they have not performed well together in a single match. Jaydev Unadkat also needs to raise his level.
The visiting side at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Mumbai lost all the first three matches, first, against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the season opener, then to Sunrisers Hyderabad and to Delhi Daredevils before overcoming RCB with a supreme batting show.
CHENNAI BUOYANT
Fresh from a thumping win over Rajasthan Royals (RR), a confident Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will lock horns with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 20th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday.
The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai side hammered Rajasthan by 64 runs on Friday at home before narrowly missing a win against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP).
Table toppers CSK, who have returned to the cash-rich league after a two-year gap following a spot-fixing scandal, have once again proved why they are one of the title favourites.
The best part for Chennai is that most of their batters have fired whenever the situation demanded.
While Dwayne Bravo (68 off 30) and Sam Billings’ (56 off 23) brilliant knocks handed CSK a nail-biting win against MI and KKR respectively, skipper Dhoni (79 off 44) was almost about to pull a win against Punjab in a high-scoring clash.
Opener Ambati Rayudu has also amassed 122 runs from four outings averaging 30.50.
In their previous match, it was Australian buy Shane Watson whose scintillating knock of 106 runs propelled CSK to a massive total. Also, Chennai’s most dependable batsman Suresh Raina, who made a comeback after undegoing a calf injury, also loooked good for his 29-ball 46 against RR.
In the bowling department, allrounder Watson has led from the front, scalping six wickets from four games with an economy rate of 7.38. Also, pacer Shardul Thakur and leggie Imran Tahir have striked at regular intervals, bagging five and four wickets respectively.
On paper, third-placed SRH possess one of the strongest batting lineups with Wriddhiman Saha and in-form Shikhar Dhawan as openers followed by skipper Williamson along with Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, and Shakib Al Hasan.
However, in their last outing against KXIP, their batters failed in chasing a high total.
Meanwhile, with the likes Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Siddarth Kaul and Shakib Al Hasan, their bowling unit looks world-class.