Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to bounce back from their shocking loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last match as they get ready to face Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals in Match No. 39 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. RCB are currently in fifth place on the points table but a win over RR will propel them to second place behind leaders Gujarat Titans.
But Faf du Plessis-led have plenty of areas of concern. The biggest one is the form of former RCB captain Virat Kohli, who has now scored back-to-back first-ball ducks. Kohli has only managed to score 119 runs from 8 matches at an average of 17 in IPL 2022 so far.
Young opener Anuj Rawat has only done slightly better, scoring 129 runs from 8 matches with a best of 66. Rawat, like Kohli, also scored a duck against SRH in their last match.
But while Rawat can be replaced by someone like Mahipal Lomror, will RCB skipper Du Plessis be bold enough to drop Kohli from the line-up. Former head coach Ravi Shastri has already said that Kohli ‘brain is fried’ and the former India captain possibly needs a long break from cricket.
Du Plessis preferred to skip over the key question in RCB Bold Diaries, speaking only about the mood in the camp following the morale-shattering loss. “Everyone’s really, really hungry to perform. That’s the one thing that I genuinely do feel within us as a group – every single player is desperate to put his best out there, and at the end of the day, that’s all you can ask for as a captain. Effort and attitude is one of the things we can control, and if we do that, hopefully, the result will be on our side,” said the South African.
He said the key to recovering from the debacle was to look ahead. “The important thing for me is that you look ahead. I have been fortunate enough with a lot of guys in our dressing room that understand the ups and downs of sport. Even just last year, I remember going through the same experience playing for a different team; but, I think we were bowled out for 60 or 70 or so and ended up winning the competition. A game like that is a bad day at the office. You literally have to make sure you put it behind you; not worry about what people are saying, what they are thinking, you just put that focus back into your group,” said du Plessis.
Match Details
Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals, Match No. 39
Venue: MCA Stadium, Pune
Date & Time: April 26th, 7:30 PM
Live Streaming and TV details: Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar website and app
RCB vs RR Predicted Playing XIs
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat/Mahipal Lomror, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Suyash Prabhudessai, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Josh Hazlewood, Mohammed Siraj
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Karun Nair, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Obed McCoy/Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal
