Rajasthan have batting issues to sort

Royal Challengers Bangalore turned around a poor start to phase two of IPL 2021 with a convincing win over Mumbai Indians and head into Rajasthan Royals with their position in the points table more consolidated than before. Their impressive bowling unit gives RCB odds of 1.73 to pull off a win against RR.

Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, have been overly reliant on Sanju Samson in the batting group and although the bowling has clicked in parts, the absence of a frontline wicket-taking spinner has hurt their season. They will struggle to contain a power-packed RCB side with little impact spinners and have odds of 2.22 to beat them.

RCB ahead in head to head record

Royal Challengers Bangalore have the edge in overall record with 11 runs as against Rajasthan Royals’ 10. In the last two seasons, RCB have won all three matches between these sides, emphasizing how they have capitalised on RR’s lack of quality spinning options.

RECOMMENDED BET: RCB have a strong chance of winning this game with odds of 1.73 to beat RR.

When these teams met earlier in the season, Royal Challengers Bangalore romped home to an emphatic 10-wicket win spurred by an opening stand of 181 by Devdutt Padikkal, who made 101*, and Virat Kohli. 

Keep an eye on… 

RCB middle-order: With Virat Kohli finding his feet and Glenn Maxwell taking off last game, RCB are back to being dominant in the middle-order. They will hope to give AB de Villiers good platforms to latch onto each time. 

RR’s left-arm quicks: Rajasthan Royals had as many as three left-arm quicks in their XI last game and will look up to them to restrict Kohli and Padikkal in particular in the powerplay overs. 

TIP: Virat Kohli has back-to-back fifties in the season and has odds of 2.60 to be RCB’s top batter.