IPL5: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals - Match Preview
Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore are all set to contest in the 18th match of the ongoing season five of the lucrative Indian Premier League, at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore today, April 15, 2012.
Both the outfits come into today’s match with two consecutive losses and will be eager to get back on the winning track with a victory tonight. Royal Challengers Bangalore, after winning tournament opener against Delhi Daredevils, fell cheaply against defending
champions Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders.
In the previous game, Bangalore’s top-order clicked against Chennai Super Kings, with youngster http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mayank-Agarwal-c1937, explosive Chris Gayle and hard hitting Virat Kohli all scoring runs against the formidable Chennai attack.
However, the middle continues to be a cause of concern for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Delhi-c780 Daredevils in the tournament opener, struggled for runs in the rest of the
two matches, scoring 10 and 4 respectively. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rajasthan-c837 at home tonight.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/CA-Pujara-c1209, who has accumulated 17 runs in three matches so far, will be a big headache for the Bangalore-based franchise going into Sunday’s
game. After failing to perform at the top as well as in the middle-order, Pujara is likely to come under selectors’ knife this time around, in which case http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Kaif-c77040 will get a chance to play his first game this season.
Their bowling department, featuring likes of Zaheer Khan, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/M-Muralitharan-c1864 and Daniel Vettori, has been in good stead of late, with everyone chipping in nicely.
On the other hand, the former IPL champions Rajasthan Royals begun the IPL5 campaign promisingly winning their opening two games against Kings XI http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 Indians and KKR have
certainly affected the morale of the RR outfit. It is pertinent to mention here that both of Royals' victories have come at home while they have lost the games played away so far, so it will be interesting to see if they can come out all guns blazing and give
an improved performance to avoid a third away defeat.
Their bowling attack looks quite competitive on paper, with fast bowler S Trivedi and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SW-Tait-c2616 is likely to get his first game of the season
at the expanse of out of form http://www.senore.com/Cricket/S-Sreesanth-c2398, who hasn’t played a game this season.
Rahul Dravid backed his inexperienced attack and hoped they will soon start giving results.
"We are trying to make them [young Indian bowlers] learn as quickly as possible. We have not been outclassed at all. Credit to youngsters who are fighting hard. We just hope to come over the line soon."
Probable XIs:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Z-Khan-c98379, 11 Muttiah
Muralitharan
Rajasthan Royals: 1 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/George-Bradley-Hogg-c59047, 9 Shaun Tait, 10 Sreesanth, 11 Amit Singh
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