🏏IPL 2024 match 9: Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Capitals, Jaipur 🏏

🏏IPL 2024 match 9: Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Capitals, Jaipur 🏏

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Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals will look to register their first victory when they lock horns against Rajasthan Royals in match 9 of the ongoing Indian Premier League, which is scheduled to be played at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. 

DC have lost their opener clash against Punjab Kings and are currently eighth in the points table. 

On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals will be confident when they face DC because they will be playing on their home ground.

Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav will be a threat to Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson.

Jos Buttler will look to find his mojo back while playing against Delhi. His form will be a major concern for the Royals. If we take a look at his last three outings, he just scored 11 runs, which includes three ducks.

Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson will be the player to watch out for during this clash, as he scored 286 runs in 14 outings against the Capitals, and he will be more lethal on his home ground.

For Delhi Capitals, it's not their jersey colour that's attracting as much attention as the return of their captain, Rishabh Pant. 

Batting, handling 'keeping duties and leading the side on his return to competitive cricket after a year and a half, he is expected to be their messiah following their disappointing run last season in his absence.

All eyes will be on Delhi captain Rishabh Pant because he has scored four 50s in 9 innings against Rajasthan Royals with a strike rate of 170. 

He enjoys facing Royals, a team against whom he has had tremendous success in the past. But is there enough in Pant to cover up for all of DC's inadequacies?

If the dominance of 2020 and 2021 promised DC the elusive trophy in the near future, the performances of the last two seasons have witnessed a freefall. They have lost 10 of their last 15 games, and are plagued by injuries, unavailability and indifferent form, despite several experiments, the team management are far from finding a fix.

Pant's absence may have been a key missing link in DC's fragile middle-order last season, but it seems to be just as vulnerable right now. With their insistence on retaining the opening Australian combination of David Warner and Mitchell Marsh, their middle order continues to wear a thin look. 

Abhishek Porel's explosive innings in the previous game would have given them some reasons to be delighted, but the burden on him along with Ricky Bhui, Axar Patel and Sumit Kumar is way too much to marshall the middle and lower-middle order with only a returning Rishabh Pant and yet-to-fire Tristan Stubbs.

Here are the probable playing XIs of Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, SV Samson (C), R Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, DC Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Sandeep Sharma, Avesh Khan, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal

Delhi Capitals: David Warner, MR Marsh, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (C), RK Bhui, T Stubbs, Axar Patel, Sumit Kumar, KL Yadav, Ishant Sharma, KK Ahmed

RR vs DC pitch report

In the first IPL 2024 match at this venue, the pacers did not enjoy any benefit from the pitch. Batters, on the other hand, enjoyed even bounce. The same is expected in the second game as well. Batters from both sides should be able to score lots of runs.

What to expect: While the ball kept low at times in the second innings, it was largely an easy-playing surface throughout the opening game. While it's the first evening game of Jaipur this season, dew isn't expected to be much of a factor so early in the tournament. The pitch has shown signs of being tricky at times and players might need to adjust on the go.

RR vs DC weather

The temperature will be around 34 degrees in Jaipur when the match starts. It will slightly cool down to 30 degrees later during the match. There is no chance of rain, and the humidity won’t go beyond 31%.

RR vs DC prediction

As per Google’s win probability, there is a 56% chance that Rajasthan will beat Delhi in their second match.

Team Watch:

Rajasthan Royals:

Tactics & Matchups: While the hosts may not want to fiddle with their combination, their Impact Substitute strategy hangs delicately based on the toss as well as the match situation, allowing them the opportunity to choose between Rovman Powell and Nadre Burger as the fourth overseas player. While they might wait a bit longer on Shimron Hetmyer to regain his form, there is an opportunity to go for Powell ahead of the hard-hitting southpaw.

Delhi Capitals:

Injuries/availability: Anrich Nortje has joined the squad after missing out the previous game due to personal reasons. Ishant Sharma and Mukesh Kumar have also recovered an are available for the game.

Tactics & Matchups: For as much as Sanju Samson has attacked left-arm spinners in the last three seasons of the IPL, he has struggled to score at a pace that he usually likes against Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav. The DC spin duo will be expected to cage Samson's strokeplay through the middle overs yet again.

Did you know?

Riyan Parag has scored only 75 runs in 7 innings against Delhi Capitals, at a strike rate of 91.46. With a promotion to No 4 in the batting order, he would look to fix that record.

Rishabh Pant has smashed four 50s in 9 innings against Rajasthan Royals, that too at a strike rate of 170.

What they said:

We decided on (Mitchell) Marsh and (David) Warner to open. Ricky Bhui is a middle order batsman. They bat in different positions. It's not (Ricky) Bhui for (Prithvi) Shaw but it's a different opening combination. They opened for Australia at the top and have done well together, so we decided to open with them - Sourav Ganguly on Delhi Capitals not picking Prithvi Shaw in the opening game.

We haven't played a lot at SMS over the last few years. We came back last year and I don't think we were as in-tune with the changes we had to make to our mindset and to our games to play on this track. The pitches have been relaid, the top soil. It's just a case of adjusting your mindset over what's presented, going with the gameplan and then trust to doing the hard work that's required on this pitch. It's not always a straightforward pitch and the players are more ready for that this year, hopefully - Kumar Sangakkara on the reason for Rajasthan Royals' sub-par record in Jaipur last season.

The Capitals faced a setback in their opening match against the Punjab Kings, succumbing to a loss. Struggling to maintain momentum, they lost wickets at regular intervals during their innings, ultimately falling short by at least 20-30 runs on what seemed to be a favorable batting track. Rishabh Pant, in his return game, managed to score 18 runs off 13 balls, but the overall batting effort proved insufficient, leading to defeat.

In the absence of Anrich Nortje, the Capitals’ bowling attack lacked its usual vigor. However, with Nortje’s return to fitness and availability for selection in the upcoming match against the Rajasthan Royals, the team aims to strengthen its bowling prowess. Eager to bounce back from their previous loss, the Capitals are determined to regain their winning form.

Notably, despite being among the original franchises, the Capitals, along with RCB and PBKS, have yet to secure an IPL title. This adds to their motivation as they strive to clinch their maiden championship victory.

In terms of pitch conditions, statistics reveal that out of the 53 games played at this venue, 34 have been won by the team chasing. 

However, it’s worth noting that the Royals secured victory in the first game at this ground during IPL 2024, batting first. Generally, this venue is renowned for its high-scoring matches, indicating that both teams might have ample opportunities to put up substantial totals.

As seen in the previous game, the surface at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur was a bit dry, with no movement for the pacers. However, with the second game being in the evening, the pitch could favour the batters, and a high-scoring encounter could be quite the possibility on such a pitch. 

Probable Best Batter:

Rajasthan Royals’ opener, Yashasvi Jaiswal, could be the best batter in game 9 of the ongoing IPL 2024. Jaiswal has been in impeccable form as of late and looked to be going with the flow in the first game as well. With a score of 24 runs in his previous game, Jaiswal will be keen on doing better and putting in an impressive showing. 

Probable Best Bowler:

Royals’ Trent Boult could be the best bowler in the upcoming clash against Delhi Capitals. Boult’s spell in the powerplay has always been lethal, and that could once again be a go-to strategy for Royals against Delhi Capitals.