IPL 2018, Match 11: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals – Match Predictions

The Royal Challengers Bangalore had a great outing in their first home game yesterday as they toppled a well-balanced Kings XI Punjab without having too many troubles. They will want to replicate the same kind of performance on Sunday afternoon when they host the Rajasthan Royals who are also rejuvenated after beating the Delhi Daredevils in a rain-curtailed game a couple of days back.

There are some mighty fine players set to take the field from both sides and this could be a contest of very high standard. Although it’s an afternoon game, the attendance in the stadium should still be high as it’s a weekend. The passion of the RCB fans the other evening against Punjab was a different level and tomorrow shouldn’t be any different as they will rally around the home team and make a cracking atmosphere inside Chinnaswamy.

Pitch and Conditions

There was a lot of anticipation regarding the Chinnaswamy pitch ahead of the Punjab game as everyone was keen to know if the old, flat deck that is historically associated with his venue is back or not. As it unfolded, the deck played better than it had done last season, but it was not quite the Chinnaswamy of old. The ball gripped and turned and the pace of the surface was pretty slow as well.

The altitude and dimensions of Chinnaswamy suggest that the spinners would disappear and it happens quite often when it’s a flat pitch, but with the pitch still appearing to be a little slow, the spinners will have a say and negotiating them surely won’t be a cake-walk tomorrow.

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Playing Combination

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Probable Changes – Manan Vohra in, Sarafarz Khan out

Sarfaraz Khan has not been able to repay the faith shown in him. Two meek failures with the bat mean that he is struggling to retain his spot, especially when somebody as talented as Vohra is sitting on sidelines. The RCB management will be very tempted to get Vohra in, who although is an opening batsmen but has batted down the order as well at times for his previous franchises and can adjust there as he is a good player of spin.

Chris Woakes has gone for plenty of runs in the last two games, but he has got wickets as well. Also, Virat Kohli stressed in the post-match presentation yesterday that he is willing to give an extended run to his best five bowlers before deliberating other names which means the men in Red will go with the same bowling unit and Woakes will have the new nut in his hands again.

Predicted XI: Quinton de Kock (WK), Brendon McCullum, Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Manan Vohra, Mandeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Chris Woakes, Umesh Yadav, Kulwant Khejroliya, Yuzvendra Chahal

Rajasthan Royals

Probable Changes – Jofra Archer in, Ben Laughlin out

Jofra Archer is fit and available and the Rajasthan Royals won’t be in two minds about selecting him straightaway. He is an impact bowler who is capable of bowling in any situation and at any stage of the game and he will occupy the 4th overseas slot after D’Arcy Short, Ben Stokes, and Jos Buttler.

Ben Laughlin, even though he bowled a fantastic couple of overs against Delhi and played a big role in restricting them below the revised target of 71 to hand Rajasthan their first win in the tourney, will, unfortunately, have to make way for Jofra who offers Rajasthan a higher skill-set in comparison.

Predicted XI: Ajinkya Rahane (C), D’Arcy Short, Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (WK), , Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat

Team Comparison

Both teams have got elite match winners with the bat in the top as well as the middle order. Weighing up the two batting units, there is not much of a difference, either you talk in terms of quality or sheer power, they match each other in every aspect, however the genius of AB de Villiers just tilt it a little bit in RCB’s favour if you necessarily have to pick the better batting unit.

Bowling is not the stronger forte of either of the two teams. Both of them lack variety and X-factor with the ball, but Rajasthan has more options than Bangalore who has been going into the games with only 5 proper bowling options and have nobody to fall back on in case any of the specialist bowlers has a bad day.

Rajasthan has a genuine all-rounder in Ben Stokes who gives them the 6^th bowling option, while D’Arcy Short can also roll his arm over with a bit of chinaman stuff.

Probable Top Performers

Quinton de Kock (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Krishnappa Gowtham (Rajasthan Royals)

Head to Head

Matches – 16, Royal Challengers Bangalore – 8, Rajasthan Royals – 7, N/R – 1

The timing of the match: 08:00 pm IST

Broadcast Details

TV – Star Sports 1, Star Sports Hindi, Star Sports Select 1

Online – Jio TV, Hotstar

The prediction is for the Rajasthan Royals to beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore in this match.