IPL 2020: RCB vs RR Game Plan 2- Expose Rajasthan’s under-cooked middle-order
RCB vs RR – The 15th match of the IPL 2020 tournament between the teams, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals, could all be about match-ups. We take a look at a key game plan that could play a role in the RCB vs RR IPL fixture.
RCB vs RR- Expose Rajasthan’s under-cooked middle-order
After two fine efforts at Sharjah, Rajasthan’s batting crumbled against Kolkata Knight Riders at Dubai as they failed to adapt to the different conditions. However, Rajasthan’s concern wouldn’t be around the Top three consisting of Jos Buttler, Steve Smith and Sanju Samson. Both Smith and Samson have already performed in this tournament and they might reproduce their best again while Buttler is one of the best openers in the entire tournament.
It is the middle-order consisting of Robin Uthappa, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia and Tom Curran that is a major cause of concern. Both Tewatia and Curran have performed so far but it still feels like one spot too high for the entire middle and lower order of Rajasthan. Add to this the fact that both Uthappa and Parag haven’t got going so far, the team’s batting line-up looks rather thin in spite of having some enviable depth with someone as good as Shreyas Gopal batting at No.10.
RCB vs RR – Will they use Tewatia to counter Chahal?
While the others will get more opportunities, time might be running out for Uthappa given his extremely sedate season for Kolkata Knight Riders last year. In IPL 2019, Uthappa scored 282 runs at a strike-rate of 115.10 in 12 matches while he averaged 21.93 the season before that. Rajasthan could opt for either Yashashvi Jaiswal or Manan Vohra in place of Uthappa. This would mean either Steve Smith drops one spot down to No.3 or Rajasthan could experiment with Buttler in the middle-order even though the numbers don’t favour that move.
Be it whatever combination Rajasthan opt for, the trio of Buttler, Smith and Samson will be obviously the key wickets for Royal Challengers Bangalore. So, how do RCB dismiss these key batsmen? Clearly, when one looks at the IPL numbers for these batsmen, leg-spin has seemed to be a massive issue for both Buttler and Samson while Smith also doesn’t have a great strike rate against this bowling type. RCB played two world-class leg-spinners in the last game against Mumbai Indians in the form of Yuzvendra Chahal and Adam Zampa.
Chahal has been a huge nemesis for both Jos Buttler and Steve Smith in the IPL so far. The Haryana leg-spinner has dismissed Buttler thrice while conceding 21 runs at run-a-ball while Steve Smith has got out twice and has a strike-rate of less than 100. Even Samson has a strike-rate below 100 against Chahal although he has not been been a victim of his bowling so far. The leggie has always been a successful wicket-taking option for RCB over the past 3-4 years but he has developed his game further by having more confidence in his googly. Chahal has already dismissed Vijay Shankar and Mayank Agarwal with two ripping googlies. He has also varied his length superbly while bowling the leg-break. These are his numbers in the IPL 2020 so far.
Buttler and Samson bat at a pretty good pace against left-arm fast-medium bowlers but they have also got out to this bowling type quite often. This brings in Isuru Udana who could probably trouble the two above-mentioned batsmen with his cutters. Udana also dismissed Suryakumar Yadav with a delivery that was angled across the right-hander in the game against Mumbai.
Apart from the main threat Chahal and Udana, RCB have another key bowler in the form of Navdeep Saini. When the duo of Ishan Kishan and Keiron Pollard went all guns blazing in the last game, it was Saini who bowled a brilliant 19th over to keep RCB in the match. Saini later came on delivered the goods for RCB by conceding just seven runs against the fearful trio of Pollard, Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma.
Saini has always been known for his excellent hard-length bowling and he has been successful with good and short length deliveries once again in this IPL. However, his continued improvement in terms of yorkers and death bowling as a whole was on full display against Mumbai in the thrilling super-over win.
ALSO READ: RCB vs RR Game Plan 1- The Archer and Gopal threat
While hard-length bowling can be reserved for batsmen like Robin Uthappa, Riyan Parag and Rahul Tewatia, Saini might have to bring out his yorkers even more if someone like Buttler or Samson is well settled and batting during the death overs. He has bowled seven yorkers in this season so far and conceded only 12 runs which augurs well for this upcoming match. All said and done, RCB would prefer to have the Top 3 back in the hut as mentioned already as they will have the half battle won with that aspect ticked off.