Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals who failed to show their royalty in the current edition of the IPL will lock horns on Tuesday in Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
RCB are at the bottom of the pile with four wins, while RR are one place above with five wins. After piling up losses in the first half of the season, both teams managed to establish some momentum and have carried their slim chances of progressing to the playoffs right into the final week of the league stage.
Royal Challengers are banking on the remote possibility of the fourth team qualifying with twelve points. For that to happen, they need to win both their matches by big margins, so their net run rate improves. The Rajasthan Royals too stand an outside chance of making the final four; for them to progress, they need to win both their remaining matches, which will take their tally to 14 points. Both teams would then need other results to go their way.
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RCB were forced to overhaul their middle-order in the previous match after Moeen Ali parted with the team to join the England national team. They included Shivam Dube, Heinrich Klaasen and Gurkeerat Singh and batted them at 4 5 and 6. That formula didn’t quite work out in the run-chase in Delhi, and the RCB management will probably attempt to correct that problem.
The Rajasthan Royals can be expected to make one change to the team that defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad; the fifth bowler’s quota of four overs – which was shared between Parag Das and Stuart Binny against SRH – is possibly an area the team will look to tighten up.Dhawal Kulkarni, or local lad K Gowtham are possible options the Royals could consider for the additional specialist bowler.