IPL 2018, Match 32 DD vs RR Match Preview

Both teams looking for consistent wins to make it playoffs

Both teams desperately looking for a win will take on each other at the Ferozshah Kotla on Wednesday. Delhi Daredevils will host Rajasthan Royals as Shreyas Iyer's side will be keen to win the match as they lost against CSK at the back of their minds to get a win that will get them off the bottom of the table.

Rajasthan have been really inconsistent so far while Jofra Archer has added some stability with the ball but they are still yet to find the right combination with the bat and fire. That is the key point they have to do quickly as they are running out of time.

Rajasthan Royals are placed fifth in the table with six points from seven matches. Rahane's team has been inconsistent this season as most times a win has been followed by a loss and they will also have to find a way to stem the rot if they have to make it to the play-offs.

Their failure to chase down a target of 151-7 against Sunrisers Hyderabad saw Rajasthan Royals lose the match by 11 runs. It was despite Rahane scoring a 65 and Samson hitting a 40 as they didn’t get support from other batsman.

Rahane and Samson have been their best batsmen this season but inconsistent run of Ben Stokes and Jos Butler has affected their performance this season. A win for Royals will put them at No. 4 alongside Kolkata Knight Riders, and make them genuine contenders to make the playoffs. Needless to say, margin for error for either side is minimal.

Daredevils are only just recovering from what turned out to be a mistake: having Gautam Gambhir as captain and opening batsman. The rejigged side after his stepping down looks a bigger threat to the opposition.

Iyer and Pant have done the bulk of the scoring for Delhi, amassing 306 and 257 runs respectively so far and the onus would be on the duo to lead the batting unit on Wednesday.

Both teams have great batting line-ups but their big worry id their bowling

Among the bowlers, Trent Boult has been among the wickets, claiming 11 scalps so far but he didn’t get support from the rest. It has resulted in their failure to defend totals, putting their batting under pressure.

Shankar said they are doing most things right but small mistakes have resulted in losses.

“We, as a team, are doing well but it is the small things which is changing the entire result of the game,” he said.

“We were chasing 80 from six overs or something against Chennai, we got close to the target, lost by 13 runs. We tried our best and we would look to move forward from this and look to do better and build ourself into a good team,” he said.

Probably Playing XIs 

Delhi Daredevils

1 Colin Munro, 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Vijay Shankar, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Liam Plunkett, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Trent Boult

Rajasthan Royals

1 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 2 Rahul Tripathi, 3 Sanju Samson, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Jos Buttler (wk), 6 Mahipal Lomror, 7 K Gowtham, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Dhawal Kulkarni, 10 Ish Sodhi, 11 Jaydev Unadkat

Both Teams Previous Meeting

Their last meeting was the first time a side successfully defended a total this IPL. It was a rain-shortened game, and Daredevils failed to chase 71 in six overs.

Teams Strategy

Royals could think of playing two legspinners: Maxwell has had his share of troubles against that variety of bowling, including against Ish Sodhi, who has dismissed him twice in 28 balls for only 31 runs.

Expect Daredevils to hold back spin until they dismiss Ajinkya Rahane, whose strike rate against pace this year has been 117.2 as opposed to 143 against spin.

Important Stats

1. Avesh Khan has bowled only seven Powerplay overs so far, but he boasts a good economy rate of 7.1

2. Jofra Archer comes into the match with a death-overs economy rate of 4.8 in this IPL. He has bowled only four overs in the stage, but in finding a way to score runs off him lies a big challenge for Daredevils

3. Daredevils last beat Royals in 2012, and have lost to them seven times since then

4. Amit Mishra has bowled almost exclusively in the middle overs, going at an excellent economy rate of 6.7

5. Royals' specialist overseas batsmen have the worst strike rate among all teams this year: 116.4

Match Prediction

Both teams boast of a strong batting line-up but they have not delivered on a consistent basis. Considering the fact that Delhi Daredevils have more batsmen in form and will be playing at home, they will undoubtedly go into this game as favorites. But if Rajasthan's overseas players turn up this will be a high-scoring encounter that will go down to the wire. Still, home advantage and in-form players means that Daredevils will be looking favorites to get the win to get off the bottom.