RR vs RCB Head to Head, Playing XI, Preview, Where to Watch on TV, Online, and Live Streaming Details

While it might be too early to label Rajasthan Royals’ impressive run a juggernaut, they have certainly marked themselves as the team to watch out for (for the viewers) and the team to beware of (for their competitors) just two games into this IPL season. They brushed aside the Sunrisers Hyderabad in a 61-run drubbing in their season opener before trouncing Mumbai Indians by 23 to do what no team has done so far this season: defend twice in a row.

As much as the credit is due to the Royals’ bowlers – for crushing the Sunrisers with ruthless ease and holding their nerves against Mumbai, who briefly threatened to trump them – it is their batters who have set up totals of such magnitude that have given the bowlers all the freedom to attack relentlessly, even if they end up leaking a few runs in the process. Each one of the Royals’ top five made contributions of note in the first game to set a stiff 210 in the first game, while Jos Buttler pummeled a stroke-filled century in the second to take the team total just two hits short of 200.

In the bowling department, the spin duo of R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal has lived up to the pre-tournament hype, scalping wickets at crucial junctures and stemming the flow of runs with expected ease. With Trent Boult and Praisdh Krishna doing their job with perfection, there is nothing the Royals would be fretting over going into their next clash – against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Though the Royal Challengers, who have won and lost a game so far, won’t be panicking too much, they won’t be entirely settled either. A problem the Challengers are no strangers to (read: death bowling woes) came to the fore in their campaign opener against Punjab Kings, when they were downed by five wickets despite setting a daunting 205/2. In the next outing, they allowed Kolkata Knight Riders to make a match out of a 128-run total.

As balanced as a Faf du Plessis-Anuj Rawat-Virat Kohli top-three sounds, the trio’s combined tally against KKR was 17 off 13, good (or instead bad) enough to undo the toil of bowlers on most days. Even as RCB crossed the line eventually, their three-wicket victory that night was the kind that leaves a team with more questions to be answered than answered questions despite ending on the right side.

With the kind of form the Royals have shown so far, the Royal Challengers will have to be much better to stand a chance come April 5.

Pitch and conditions 

Win the toss, win the match – that has been the trend at least so far in the three games at the Wankhede Stadium, with dew making it a safe harbor for the chasers. The choice at toss should not be difficult to guess, then. Meanwhile, if those three games are an indicator, expect wickets for pacers, who have accounted for 24 of the total 34 wickets at the venue this season.

Playing combinations for RR vs RCB

Rajasthan Royals

Navdeep Saini tumbled on his head in the previous game while fielding in the deep but returned to bowl, which means barring any last-minute injury, the Royals are likely to field an unchanged XI.

Predicted XI: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c&wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna

Royal Challengers Bangalore 

RCB will be boosted significantly once they have Glenn Maxwell added into their ranks, but until his arrival, the charge of being the middle-order enforcer lies in the hands of David Willey and Sherfane Rutherford combined. It was thanks to this duo and the final flourish of Dinesh Karthik that RCB recovered and sealed the win against KKR after Wanindu Hasaranga’s 4/20.

Predicted XI: Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj

RR vs RCB Head-to-Head

Played – 24 | Royal Challengers Bangalore – 12 | Rajasthan Royals – 10 | N/R – 2

RR vs RCB Broadcast Details

Match Timings – 07:30 PM IST

TV – Star Sports Network

Live Streaming – Disney+Hotstar