TACTICAL ANALYSIS
Follow UsAfter losing to Gujarat Titans in the first Qualifier, Rajasthan will be up against a high-flying Bangalore for a spot in the Final. Here are a few tactical plots that could go against a few key batters and bowlers from both teams:
Battle royal between leg-spinners
It’s not just because of their team names this match is called the “Battle of the Royals”. This is also a battle between two of the best bowlers of the edition, Yuzvendra Chahal and Wanindu Hasaranga.
Both leg spinners are different in nature. Chahal is more of a bowler who believes in deceiving the batters through his flight and dip and Hasaranga through variations. In this battle, Chahal (26) is one wicket ahead of Hasaranga (25).
Chahal in this season has had most of his wickets in the slog overs, 14 out of 26 to be precise, the most by any bowler in the last five overs. Whereas Hasaranga has bossed the middle overs with 18 wickets at a balls/wicket ratio of 13. Coming to their variations, out of the 25 wickets bagged by Hasaranga, 21 have come through googlies. On the other hand, Chahal’s 20 wickets out of the 26 have come through conventional leg breaks.
Samson’s kryptonite
Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson has been one of the best spin-hitters this season. Among batters with 75+ balls against spin, his strike rate of 166.4 being the second best is a testimony of it.
However, Bangalore has the perfect nullifier and the name is Hasaranga. In T20s, Samson has been dismissed by Hasaranga five times in six innings. In both the league stage matches, Hasaranga accounted for his wicket. Overall, in T20s, Samson averages only 3.6 against the bowler and has been dismissed every 4.5 balls. Against a bowler whom Samson has played 20+ balls, his average and balls/dismissal ratio are his worst against a particular bowler.
Jaiswal and Buttler needs to bat big to counter Hasaranga
Samson has had his troubles against Hasaranga throughout his career. If Jos Buttler and Yashaswi Jaiswal bat long, this could be nullified.
In this edition, Buttler hasn’t been dismissed to a leg-spinner and has struck his runs at a strike rate of 140.5. On the other hand, Jaiswal has been dismissed once in three innings and has an even better strike rate (176.5). To add more, both these batters haven't had a dismissal against googlies and Jaiswal has a strike rate of 266.7 against the particular delivery style. Hasaranga’s 84 percent of the wickets have come through googlies.
Rajasthan have the perfect armory to keep Patidar at bay
The RRR, ‘replaced’ ‘rejuvenated’ ‘Rajat Patidar’ has just been sensational for Bangalore. Following a century in the Eliminator, Patidar will be up against a much more formidable bowling lineup.
In this season, Patidar has had a strike rate of 96.7 in his first 10 balls but hasn’t been dismissed even once. After his first 10 balls, he just kicks off at a rapid pace. In balls between 11-30, he has a strike rate of 184.2 and has hit a boundary every 3.7 balls. However, in this range, against leg spinners, off-spinners and left-arm pacers, Patidar has a strike rate of 133.3 and averages 18 all combined. In comparison, he strikes at 209.1 against right-arm pacers and slow-left arm orthodox combined. Rajasthan have Ravichandran Ashwin, Chahal, Obed McCoy and Trent Boult in their armory to keep him silent, if not dismiss him.
Ashwin’s troublesome batting order
Ravichandran Ashwin has delivered it at times for Rajasthan with both bat and ball. The experienced off-spinner has picked up 11 wickets this season at an economy of 7.3.
In any case, he will be up against a team that has a batting order full of his nemesis. Bangalore’s best four batters, Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, and Dinesh Karthik, have played 30+ balls against Ashwin in IPL and have no more than one dismissal. Maxwell among the lot has been the most brutal one. He has scored over 90 runs with one dismissal at a strike rate of 221.9. The remaining three have a decent strike rate against Ashwin.
Maxwell and Karthik vs Chahal
Purple Cap holder Yuzvendra Chahal holds the key for Rajasthan, in his match against his former team. He has the edge over Maxwell, Karthik, du Plessis and Mahipal Lomror.
In the IPL, Chahal has dismissed Karthik thrice, Maxwell thrice, du Plessis twice, and Lomror twice. None of these four batters have an average of over 15 against Chahal. In addition, Chahal has bagged 14 wickets at a bowling strike rate of 7.3 in the last five overs, a phase in which Karthik has excelled. In the last three overs (18-20), the leggie has bowled eight overs, which means, Samson has the option of going deep with Chahal.
Another round of left-arm pace trial for du Plessis
In the last match as well, we had mentioned du Plessis' struggles against left-arm pace. In this season, he has been dismissed six times at an average of 16.8 and has balls/dismissal ratio of 13. In this season, du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad have shared six dismissals against left-arm pacers, the most.
In addition, du Plessis has got out to Boult three times in 11 innings at an average of 20.7 and has a strike rate of 96.9. There is McCoy as well in Rajasthan’s armory to exploit du Plessis.
