Rajasthan, Gujarat meet in battle royale

Rajasthan has put together one of the best bowling attacks this season, with both pacers and spinners right on the mark. The seasoned Trent Boult has continued to fire with the new ball while his partner Prasidh Krishna has shown glimpses of his talent.

On his IPL debut against Lucknow Super Giants, rookie Kuldeep Sen proved that he has the stomach to play with the bigwigs. The spin duties will be taken care of by the experienced combination of Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.

The Gujarat batting pack, which has not fired in unison, will have to produce its ‘A’ game to get the better of the Rajasthan bowling department. The new entrant has relied heavily on opener Shubman Gill and skipper Hardik Pandya. But, Matthew Wade has struggled at the top while David Miller is yet to unleash his best.

Due to the overseas duo’s indifferent form, Abhinav Manohar and B Sai Sudharsan have had to take more responsibility. Meanwhile, all-rounder Rahul Tewatia, who starred against Punjab Kings, seems to be relishing his role of finisher.

On the bowling front, Mohammed Shami, Lockie Ferguson and Rashid Khan would look to put the opposition batters under pressure. The Titans bowlers lacked sharpness during the loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad, so it would be interesting to see how they regroup.

The Royals batting unit, consisting of the flamboyant Jos Buttler, skipper Sanju Samson, Devdutt Padikkal and the in-form Shimron Hetmyer, would be eager to impress again.