The fourteenth edition of the Indian Premier League has already taken its perpetual guise as the seventh match of the edition is set to be underway on Thursday. Rajasthan Royals will take on Delhi Capitals, who have maintained an indispensable appearance from the first match. The match will begin at 7:30 pm IST in Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The match will be played behind closed doors. Bangalore sits on top of the table after winning yesterday’s match, Delhi will try to retain their first position by winning against Rajasthan.
Match Preview
The Wankhede Stadium is an entirely batting pitch, like most other pitches in India. However, the bowlers can do very little as the pitch is made up of red clay and does not give the extra bounce which the bowlers crave for. There is almost no spin at the beginning of the match, but with the passage of time, the ball begins to turn. Although in IPL matches a different picture is seen, the team winning the toss would like to chase given the type of wicket here. Also due to a fairly good bounce, batsman going for a big sixer is something very regular.
Rajasthan Royals Team News
The team in blue and pink captained by Sanju Samson showed their brute batting force on Monday. The Royals were handed a mighty total of 222 runs, a score which will have any team more than ready to call it a day, but Rajasthan Royals. Sanju Samson single-handedly carried his team from the very brink of loss to a point where achieving such a target did no longer look like a dream.
Although the opening order of Rajasthan Royals got bundled in just 3.2 overs into the game, their desire to win the match did not. A bloodthirsty Sanju Samson scored a mind-racking 119 off 63 balls to show the opposition that the game was not yet over. In the end, just 5 runs were needed of a single ball and the inning would have come to fruition. Samson went for a sixer to seal it off in style, the ball fell into the hands of Deepak Hooda. Even though they lost the match after such a lengthy battle against the Punjab Kings, they won everyone’s heart and support.
Ben Stokes will probably miss a few matches or possibly the entire IPL 2021 as he has been ruled out with a broken finger. Stokes’s loss might prove to be fatal.
Predicted Eleven– Rahul Tewatia, Chetan Sakariya, Jos Buttler(Overseas), David Miller(Overseas), Mustafizur Rahman(Overseas), Shivam Dube, Riyan Parag, Sanju Samson (C/Wk), Chris Morris(Overseas), Shreyas Gopal, Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Delhi Capitals Team News
The Capitals who played their previous match in the same Wankhede Stadium will be more habituated here this time around on Thursday. Delhi faced the mighty Chennai Super Kings here last Saturday and outclassed them by miles. A decent total of 188 runs were chased down by the fearless Capitals and came out victorious with 7 wickets to spare and eight balls in hand. Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan partnered each other to a stupendous 138 runs. Chennai seemed to only breathe when Dwayne Bravo dismissed Prithvi Shaw. Shaw, who was fuming red with energy as he added 72 runs to his name in just 38 balls. The damage Delhi could pose was already done by the time the duo’s partnership broke. Captain Rishab Pant and Marcus Stoinis put the last nail in the coffin as they bundled the match and emerged the obvious victors.
No changes in the lineup are expected.
Predicted Eleven– Chris Woakes(Overseas), Prithvi Shaw, Kagiso Rabada(Overseas), Marcus Stoinis(Overseas), Shimron Hetmyer(Overseas), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (C and WK), Amit Mishra, Shikhar Dhawan, Avesh Khan.
Key Stats
Astonishingly both these teams have won an equal number of matches against each other. Out of the 22 times they have faced each other they share 11 wins between each other. Thursday’s match will be the decider of the tie as either of the teams will have the edge over another. As per records, their encounters have not been quite a feisty battle as they should have been. It was in 2014 when the Rajasthan Royals registered their highest score against the team from Delhi. It was Ajinkya Rahane’s and Sanju Samson’s innings that maneuvered their way to hand Delhi a total of 201. An easy win for Rajasthan that year after Delhi was bundled in just 139 runs. Hopefully, that will not be the case this year.
Conclusion
Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals will not go soft on any team this season as they look more refined and intensified on both bowling and batting fronts. All in all a dicey fixture indeed.
