Rajasthan Royals will aim to climb up the IPL 2022 ladder and break again into the top two when they face Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday.
The game will see a battle of Yuzvendra Chahal’s bagful of tricks and Kuldeep Yadav’s guile as the two wrist spinners are expected to control the narrative in one of the most exciting games of the season.
With eight points from six games, the inaugural IPL champions, Rajasthan Royals, are third in the table having a net run-rate (NRR) of + 0.380 behind leaders Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bangalore, both on 10 points each.
A win against Delhi Capitals on Friday would take the Sanju Samson-led side to the second spot, displacing RCB to third on NRR. Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals can storm into the top four with a win against RR, pushing Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad down.
Led by Rishabh Pant, Delhi Capitals have won three games out of six and are placed sixth in IPL 2022 points table. With an NRR of +0.942, Delhi Capitals can eclipse LSG (+0.124) and SRH (-0.077) on that front if they manage to win against RR on Friday.
With the current ‘Orange Cap’ holder in Jos Buttler (375 runs) and ‘Purple Cap’ holder Chahal (17 wickets) in their ranks, Rajasthan Royals are a team that is looking pretty formidable at the moment even with a dysfunctional middle-order, save Shimron Hetmyer.
In this backdrop, the two wrist-spinners, who are currently dominating the bowling charts will be itching to show their wares with Kuldeep (13 wickets at No. 2) expected to pose some questions for in-form Buttler in case there is a match-up.
Keeping aside all the statistics, the eyes will be on RR;s dynamic duo of Chahal and Buttler after their match-winning exploits against Kolkata Knight Riders in their previous game. While Buttler notched up his second IPL 2022 ton to enter an exclusive list, Chahal grabbed this season’s first hat-trick, which was also his first in his cricketing career.
For Delhi, Kuldeep along with Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav would like to stem the run-flow but stopping Buttler will be on top of their agenda on a Wankhede track that is expected to be good for batting. For Chahal, how he varies the pace against a rampaging David Warner or the ever-attacking Prithvi Shaw and skipper Rishabh Pant will be a delight for the fans.
With PTI Inputs
