Overview: Possibly it’s the clash between the two best teams in the competition. But the points table tells a different story. Not for the Titans, but the Royals campaign has been a stop start one considering the resources they have. A win would cement the Titans at the top and for the Royals, a win would take them to the top spot as their net run-rate is better than the Titans.
RAJASTHAN ROYALS: The Royals had a perfect start to their tournament as they won 4 of their 5 games. But things started to fall apart in the second half as they have lost 3 of the last 4 games. They don’t really have a big concern in any department, but their big players are not stepping up for them. Be it the skipper Samson, Butler, Hetmeyer & even Chahal. All started the season with a bang and then faded away. Jaiswal with the bat & Ashwin with the ball have been surprisingly good this time. The positive thing is that when they have won, they have done it with a huge margin and when they lose, they have been close ones. Royals will have some confidence as they have won their previous game against GT and the Titans would need to collect themselves coming after a shocking defeat last game.
GUJARAT TITANS: The Titans did almost everything right in their loss against the Capitals. But at the crucial junctures, they failed to capitalize on the unbelievable start that Shami gave them. Their captain Hardik Pandya took the blame upon himself and admitted that he was not able to get to rhythm at any stage of his innings despite facing 50+ balls. The pitch was also not that bad, but it was sheer good bowling and careless batting. The Titans will be somewhat happy that this type of loss came at this stage of the tournament and not at the playoffs. Gujarat are just a couple of wins away from reaching their second playoff in as many attempts and they have 5 more games to do it. No changes are expected to be made as no one played that poorly. Saha’s form is the only concerning thing but because of his glove work, anything they get with his bat is a bonus.
PROBABLE XI:
RAJASTHAN ROYALS: J BUTLER, Y JAISWAL, S SAMSON (C & WK), D PADIKKAL, S HETMEYER, D JUREL, J HOLDER, R ASHWIN, S SHARMA, Y CHAHAL, T BOULT (IMPACT SUBS – KULDEEP SEN)
GUJARAT TITANS: W SAHA (WK), S GILL, H PANDYA (C), V SHANKAR, D MILLER, A MANOHAR, R TEWATIA, R KHAN, J LITTLE, M SHAMI, N AHMED (IMPACT SUBS – M SHARMA)
INTERESTING FACTS:
- Jaiswal need 25 more runs to reach 1000 IPL runs and become the 3rd fastest. (Behind Tendulkar & Ruturaj)
- Shami needs 2 wickets to become the first bowler to take 19+ wickets in 5 consecutive IPL seasons.
- Padikkal needs 46 runs to get 1500 IPL runs.
- The loss against DC was only GT’s 2nd loss while chasing.
PITCH & WEATHER REPORT: It has been raining this week at the Sawai Mansingh stadium, but a full game is expected. The pitch has marginally been supporting the seamers, but the spinners have been containing the runs.
MATCH DETAILS:
TIME – 7:30 PM IST
DATE – 5th MAY 2023
VENUE: Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.
DREAM XI TEAM:
