Young and enterprising captains will lead fearsome bowling attacks in the 24th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 as the Rajasthan Royals (RR) lock horns with the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday, April 14.
Both RR and GT have three wins from four games, with the former's league-high net run rate of 0.951 putting them at the top of the IPL 2022 points table. GT, on the other hand, are delicately placed in fourth and a loss could potentially move them down as low as seventh in an instant.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) handed GT their first loss of the season earlier in the week. After Shubman Gill was dismissed early, the Titans' middle order couldn't notch up an above-par total as captain Hardik Pandya struggled to press the accelerator at the death. While it's too early to say whether GT are over-reliant on Gill, it's certainly true that Matthew Wade and the other batters need to deliver.
Meanwhile, RR are on the back of a narrow win over the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) that brought them back on the right track after a loss to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Having established themselves as early favorites, the inaugural IPL champions will be keen to consolidate their position at the top of the IPL 2022 points table.
IPL 2022 Match Prediction: RR vs GT
Jos Buttler's first failure of the season came in RR's previous game against LSG as Avesh Khan castled him with an indipper in the last over of the powerplay. The Royals briefly lost their way after Sanju Samson bizarrely missed a full-toss, but a brilliant rearguard effort from Shimron Hetmyer ensured a fighting total.
RR showed that they don't need Buttler and Samson to fire to put up a winning score, but they'd dearly love their two lynchpins to safely negotiate GT's potent bowling attack. With Mohammed Shami, Lockie Ferguson and Rashid Khan, the Titans have 12 bankable overs at any stage of the innings, although it must be said that the former two were disappointing in the previous game.
RR's bowling unit is quite comparable to that of GT. Purple Cap holder Yuzvendra Chahal has been a potent attacking threat, while Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna have been lethal in the powerplay. Pace control in the middle overs and at the death was a bit of a concern for RR, but Kuldeep Sen displayed an accurate yorker and decent control against LSG.
While batting depth isn't something RR have in their playing XI, their overseas stars are out-and-out match-winners. If they can refrain from taking risks against Rashid, their immense quality could help them take the upper hand even against the likes of Ferguson and Shami. While Hardik has bowled his full quota of four overs regularly, he can be costly, and Darshan Nalkande doesn't seem ready for the IPL level.
GT's batting might really struggle against RR, especially if they lose Gill early. So while the Titans are more than capable of coming up with a complete performance to get back to winning ways, the Royals start as the favorites in a game that isn't likely to be dominated by the toss.
Prediction: RR to win Match 24 of IPL 2022
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