Royals eye winning return at home vs winless Daredevils
Rajasthan Royals will need to regroup quickly after a heavy loss when they face Delhi Daredevils in what will be their first IPL home game in five years at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Thursday.
Both Royals and Daredevils were outplayed in their opening games and will be itching to bounce back.
Daredevils were severely hit by KL Rahul’s fastest fifty against Kings XI Punjab, losing in Mohali by six wickets.
Royals, on the other hand, could never cope with the bowling might of Sunrisers Hyderabad and went down by nine wickets in Hyderabad yesterday.
It was a rather forgettable opening for the hosts who are making a comeback in the tournament
RCB RR
Rajasthan Royals Total matches Delhi Daredevils
Gautam Gambhir will become the eighth player to appear in 150 IPL matches
after serving a two-year suspension.
Skipper Anjikya Rahane too would like to forget the outing where he failed with the bat, missed a sitter in slips and also gambled with batting only to see a complete rout of his team.
The comfort zone of playing at home may give the desired dose of much needed confidence but the cracks exposed against Sunrisers need to be addressed quickly. The batting order in absence of Steve Smith looked brittle, the overseas players including Ben Stokes looked shaky against the spinners and the bowlers lost heart once the batsmen could put only 125 on the board.
Barring a 49 by Sanju Samson, none of other the batsmen showed any confidence nor they could build any partnerships.
The shrewd cricketing brain and mentor of the side, legendary Shane Warne, will have to lift the morale of the side and he might use the success stories of home ground to motivate his men. The hosts have the resources with experienced overseas players and local talent under a calm and cool Rahane but they need to get their act together.
JAIPUR: