Ahmedabad, April 23 (IANS) Pace setters Rajasthan Royals will look to inflict more misery on bottom dwellers Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Sardar Patel Stadium here on Friday.
Fortunes couldn’t have been more contrasting for the two teams in the initial stage of the glamorous tournament.
Royals, the champions of the first edition of the tournament in 2008, have again begun punching above their weight with their astutely yet frugally assembled team, led by Australian Shane Watson and ably supported by James Faulkner, Steve Smith and Ajinkya Rahane.
They have collected five victories from six outings to sit atop the standings.
RCB, meanwhile, flaunt an array of superstars like West Indian Chris Gayle, South African AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli. But despite the presence of such illustrious names, they are again floundering.
They have managed only one win from four matches which suggests their frustration may extend to another season after yet another disappointing campaign.
RCB’s desperation to win should give them added motivation to turn the tide of their modest performances.
Their game plan in any of the matches hasn’t clicked so far and they might well need to think out of the box to outwit a street smart Royals side.
The squads:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villers, Chris Gayle, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Subramaniam Badrinath, Darren Sammy, Mitchell Starc, Nic Maddinson, Varun Aaron, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal, Rilee Rossouw, Vijay Zol, Yogesh Takawale, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Ashok Dinda, Sandeep Warrier, Manvinder Bisla, Iqbal Abdullah, Sean Abbott, Adam Milne, David Wiese, Jalaj Saxena, Sarfaraz Naushad Khan and Shishir Bhavane.
Rajasthan Royals: Shane Watson (captain), Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane, Ankit Nagendra Sharma, Ben Cutting, Deepak Hooda, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dishant Yagnik, James Faulkner, Kane Richardson, Karun Nair, Pravin Tambe, Rahul Tewatia, Rajat Bhatia, Sanju Samson, Steven Smith, Stuart Binny, Tim Southee, Vikramjeet Malik, Chris Morris, Juan Theron, Barinder Singh Saran, Dinesh Salunkhe, Sagar Trivedi, Pardeep Sahu.