🏏 IPL 2024 ~ Match 52: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Gujarats Titans

🏏IPL 2024: Match 52:Gujarat Titans vs Royal Challengers Bangalore🏏

Credit: WildestDreams

With two back-to-back wins, RCB have been brilliant in their last two games, with their latest win coming against Gujarat. 

The side will aim to complete the double victory against them. On the other hand, Gujarat Titans, with four wins and six losses, sit at eighth place in the standings with eight points in 10 matches. 

After losing their last game to RCB and two back-to-back losses, Gujarat will aim to get back to winning ways.

A lot can change in a short time in the IPL. This time last year, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Titans squared off at the Chinnaswamy Stadium under very different circumstances. 

The Titans were toppers and were already in the playoffs. RCB was a win away from making it four straight years in the final four, their fate very much at home, which as it turned out was not the best place it could be.

Snap to the present and Saturday's contest is one between teams placed eighth and tenth. While the qualification flame hasn't been doused for either team, progress from here is now a function of several variables, including form. In that regard, RCB are slightly better placed with two wins on the bounce and a clearer game plan involving front-loading their overseas batters/all-rounders. 

A third straight win and a double over the Titans will lift Faf du Plessis' side from the points-table floor, where they've spent the majority of this season.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) have played only 4 IPL matches against each other so far. Bengaluru has won 2 of those as Titan has also won 2 matches so far. At the Bengaluru pitch, RCB takes the lead over GT by 1-0.

Tag credit: Sutapasima

Head to Head: RCB 2-2 GT. The Royal Challengers comprehensively chased down 200 with four overs to spare in last week's reverse fixture in Ahmedabad. All four games between these sides have been won by the chasing team.

Team Watch:

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Injuries/Availability: Glenn Maxwell returned from his break in the previous fixture and remains available for selection.

Tactics & Matchups:

Mohammmed Siraj has dismissed David Miller twice and conceded just 10 runs from the 14 balls bowled at the left-hander. They are likely to face off in the death overs, where the RCB man currently holds the edge over the destructive Titans finisher.

RCB are likely to continue using an all-Indian bowling attack and play both their overseas all-rounders. Vijaykumar Vyshak, who has bowled well on his home ground, could come in as the impact substitute and provide additional bowling cushion.

Probable XI: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Swapnil Singh, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal [Impact Subs: Mahipal Lomror/Vijaykumar Vyshak]

Team Watch: Gujarat Titans

Injuries/Availability:

Tactics & Matchups: Spencer Johnson's left-arm angle can be a useful proposition against a right-heavy RCB top-order. He can also be used to counter the back-in-form Rajat Patidar, who is striking spin at 225 compared to a measly 127.12 against the faster bowlers. The quicks have also dismissed Patidar six times in seven innings, with left-armers accounting for two of those dismissals.

Wriddhiman Saha had a long net session on the eve of the match but one possible tweak for GT could involve swapping out the veteran 'keeper for Matthew Wade. If GT consider such a move, they could bench the overseas all-rounder Omarzai for Vijay Shankar, who had a great game here in 2023. Given GT are adequately stocked in the spin department, they could also look to swap their third spinner, Noor Ahmad, for Johnson in keeping with teams' preferring for pace (31 wickets at 10.47 ER) over spin (11 wickets at 9.25 ER) at this venue.

Probable XI: Shubman Gill (c), Wriddhiman Saha/Matthew Wade (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Azmatullah Omarzai/Vijay Shankar, Shahrukh Khan, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, R. Sai Kishore, Sandeep Warrier, Noor Ahmad/Spencer Johnson, Mohit Sharma [Impact Sub: Darshan Nalkande]

 Pitch report

The pitch at M Chinnaswamy Stadium is known for supporting batters, usually resulting in a high-scoring match. The stadium at Bengaluru has short boundaries with lightning-fast outfield, making it possible for the teams to score high. However, teams batting first should aim to set a high score, preferably over 200 to remain competitive in the match. 

RCB vs GT, IPL 2024: Weather forecast

The temperature in Bengaluru on Saturday will hover around 36 degrees when the match starts and it will remain nearly the same throughout the game. There is no chance of rain and the wind speed will remain at 14 km/h with 57 per cent humidity in the air.

What to expect: It's been nearly 20 days since SRH and RCB plundered 549 runs in the last game here. After a string of games with slightly lower scores, the 'refreshed' Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch could signal a return to IPL 2024 norm. After months of scorching summer heat, Bengaluru rejoiced in the gloom of the last two days. There is no forecast of a rain-enforced interruption on match day.

Looking forward to watching this

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Gujarat seek an upturn at the top. They are the slowest scoring team in the PowerPlays, but also don't lose many wickets which means they haven't effectively maximised the batting depth with Rashid Khan bating at No.8. The end of this fixture last year was viewed in some quarters as a seminal changing of the guard in Indian cricket when Shubman Gill responded to a Virat Kohli 100 with a ton of his own. A year on, there's no place for the Titans skipper in a World Cup squad with the old guard proving to be resilient.

Gill's 19-ball 16 in last Sunday's clash between these sides in Ahmedabad felt like a particular low point in a middling season for the star batter-captain, the downturn mirroring that of his franchise. The team management, however, firmly remains in his corner and believes that captaincy will eventually get the best out of him. Interestingly, his tally of 320 so far is only 55 runs short of where he was at, at this stage in his stellar IPL 2023 campaign. Form, like weather, can be fickle. And as Bengaluru has shown in the last two days, a lot can change in a short time.

If Maxi will be playing then support to RCB

Otherwise no support to any team

Did you know?

- In four games against GT, Virat Kohli has scored 58(53), 73(53), 101*(61) and 70*(44)

- Since his debut in 2021, no batter scores faster against wrist spin than Rajat Patidar (SR: 219)

- Rashid Khan has only 8 wickets after 10 games, his lowest tally in the IPL at this stage. Last year, he had 18 at this stage.

RCB jeetne ke chances hai but kya pata GT badla legi

GT jeet gayi toh points table mein badlaav aa sakta hai, it can climb to 6th/7th position