Eden Gardens awaits as Gujarat and Rajasthan aim to settle ties

The last time Rajasthan found themselves in the final of any competition, the year was 2013 and the result was a loss against Mumbai Indians. It was the Champions League T20, and Rajasthan’s bowling unit had Pravin Tambe as their only spinner. 

Fast forward to IPL 2022, the Royals have sealed a place in the top-two and now face one of their toughest opponents, in the form of Gujarat Titans. But this time, they have two world-class spinners: in the form of Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, paired with one of the best pace-bowling units in the competition. 

Also read: Playoffs: what are the threats teams will need to be wary of?

Rajasthan are well-rounded but so are Gujarat Titans and that is what makes this encounter enticing. Gujarat have found ways to win games and very often that defines champion sides. But coming into the playoff stretch, they have had a few hiccups, around the form of their stars. Will that be a defining factor in the series? 

How will Gujarat match-up against Buttler?

Jos Buttler’s 2022 IPL has been a tale of two halves – one where he had a real chance of having a shot at Virat Kohli’s record IPL season and the other where he has struggled for form. If the former had made life easier for the Royals, with 491 runs at an average of 81.83, the latter, 138 runs at an average of 19.71 is causing them serious worries. 

Going into perhaps their most important clash of the season, the Royals would want Buttler to be in the zone. Gujarat, however, would be mindful of that and could potentially use the left-arm spinner, Sai Kishore as a trap against the right-handed Buttler. 

This season, left-arm spinners, have managed to keep the right-hander quiet, with a strike-rate of just 76.9, and just one boundary. Now we have seen multiple times this season how when cramped for room, Buttler has struggled and have conceded his wicket. The Tamil Nadu left-arm spinner is known for bowling at the stumps, restricting any sort of width. 

It is a ploy that might favour Gujarat, given how Kishore is used to bowling in the powerplay with the new ball. 

Gujarat’s batters against Rajasthan’s spin attack

Rajasthan have a well-balanced bowling unit but their spinners, have absolutely bossed the tournament. In between Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin, the Royals have 37 wickets, with both of them conceding runs under eight an over. In Wade, Miller and Tewatia, Gujarat have three left-handers in the top six, a match-up that could favour Ashwin. 

Chahal, on the other hand, has run away with the Purple Cap, with 26 wickets in the competition already, with an eye on surpassing Imran Tahir’s record for most wickets by a spinner in an IPL season. While he has only struck eight times against left-handers, Chahal has shown great sign of control even in the most unfavorable of match-ups. 

The other day, when Moeen Ali was at the peak of his form, Chahal gave away only 26 runs, picking up two crucial wickets. Royals have the best spin unit this season, with both their spinners just averaging 23.6 with the ball. RR’s spin unit have gone wicket-less in a match just once in 14 matches, the joint-fewest instances of going wicket-less in a match this season.

151 wickets have been taken by spinners at the Eden Gardens in all T20s since 2020, so expect the Rajasthan spinners to come up strong in the clash. Gujarat have lost the second least wickets against spin in the competition but only strike at 127.7, which makes this an enticing contest. 

Can Royals continue the uber-aggressive batting approach?

Amongst the ten batting units, Rajasthan have the best average, scoring 31.2 runs/wicket lost. Not just that, they are only behind Delhi Capitals in terms of having the highest run-rate in the season, at 8.8 RPO. And with the form their batting order has been, the Royals also have the record of scoring the most sixes in this season’s IPL (116). 

Even at the expense of some major dip in Buttler’s form, the Royals have continued to be aggressive at the crease, finding new match-winners in the likes of Jaiswal, Ashwin, Padikkal and Hetmyer. RR have as many as five batters who have a SR of over 140 in the season, joint-highest with DC batters. 

In addition, the Royals have also enjoyed facing spinners with the highest average and strike-rate but up against them is Rashid Khan. Rashid has a terrific record against both Buttler and Hetmyer – two of Royals’ pillars with the bat. So, it will be interesting to see if the Royals can continue their batting domination against Gujarat’s spinners or will Rashid have the last laugh? 

Team Combination and Predicted XI

At this point in the season, both franchises would steer away from experimenting and would play their best XI. Given that both teams don’t have any injury threat/scare, they would play the same XI from the last game. 

Rajasthan Royals - Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Obed McCoy.

Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade, Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Alzarri Joseph, R Sai Kishore, Mohammad Shami, Yash Dayal