Rajasthan Royals
Amid a struggling season in the UAE, Rajasthan Royals will be happy to be back at Sharjah, the venue they won their only two matches of the season. And hoping to reap the benefits of the lucky and high-scoring venue, the Royals would im to stop a high-flying Delhi Capitals who have lost just one match so far in the campaign.
Rajasthan defeated Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings at the start of their campaign, both at Sharjah, to kick off IPL 2020 in an impressive fashion. But since stepping outside, they lost all their three matches - two in Abu Dhabi and one in Dubai.
One of the primary reasons behind their defeat outside Sharjah was the loss in form of Sanju Samson and Steve Smith, who were both top run-getters in the first two matches. Moreover, the form of their veteran Robin Uthappa and all-rounder Riyan Parag have hurt the Royals as well.
Royals did change their lineup against Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi earlier this week, bringing in Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kartik Tyagi and Ankit Rajpoot, but it failed to work. The young batsman was out in the second ball, Rajpoot was smacked for a 42 runs in three overs while Tyagi offered some promise in his 1 for 36 in four overs.
Delhi, on the other hand, have been in a rampaging form this season with four wins in five matches. And a win on Friday can help them rise to the top of the table once again.
While skipper Iyer has been in good form, opener Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant have done their job well. Marcus Stonis too have produced two smashing fifties so far.
On the bowling front, Kagiso Rabada has looked ominous with 12 wickets to emerge as the best bowler in the IPL so far. South African pacer Anrich Nortje too has delivered when the team needed him to.
Harshal Patel, as Ishant Sharma's replacement, did well against Kolkata Knight Riders with 2 for 34 but he conceded 43 in their last match.
A fit-again Ravichandran Ashwin, who replaced injured Amit Mishra, also returned with one wicket for 26 in his comeback game.
Teams:
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson, Andrew Tye, Kartik Tyagi, Steven Smith (c), Ankit Rajpoot, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Mahipal Lomror, Oshane Thomas, Riyan Parag, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, Akash Singh, David Miller, Manan Vohra, Shashank Singh, Varun Aaron, Tom Curran, Robin Uthappa, Aniruddha Joshi, Jofra Archer.
Delhi Capitals: Shreyas Iyer (c), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shimron Hetmyer, Kagiso Rabada, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishant Sharma, Axar Patel, Sandeep Lamichhane, Keemo Paul, Daniel Sams, Mohit Sharma, Anrich Nortje, Alex Carey (wk), Avesh Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Harshal Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav.
Match starts 7.
30 PM IST.
(with PTI inputs)
