Weakened by the departure of Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, Rajasthan Royals will have their task cut out when they lock horns with a resurgent Royal Challengers Bangalore, in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.
The game at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium is crucial for both RR and RCB, placed fifth and sixth in the table respectively.
As the race for playoffs heats up, five teams are in with a chance to make the cut.
Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad are already through to the playoffs, leaving RR, RCB, Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders to fight for the remaining two places.
Both Rajasthan Royals, who saw their batting mainstays Buttler and Stokes leave for national duty, and Royal Challengers Bangalore will also have an eye on the net run rate, which could be decisive if more than one team finish with equal number of points.
The momentum for now is with the visitors, whose campaign witnessed a resurgence following a 14-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday.
With three consecutive victories against Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab and SRH under their belt, the visitors have the winning momentum with them.
On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals might take heart out of the fact that they are back on home turf and also because they had beaten RCB in their backyard earlier in the tournament.
Besides Buttler and Stokes, team mentor Shane Warne will also not be in the RR dugout.
Venue: Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
Time: 4pm
Head to Head
Overall: Matches: 17, RR won: 8, RCB won: 8, No Result: 1.
In Jaipur: Matches: 5, RR won: 2, RCB won: 3
Stats and trivia
24 is the number to wickets RCB have taken in the powerplay, the most by any side.
90 wickets RR have lost in 13 matches, the most dismissals for any team this season.
Teams
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Ben Stokes, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Rahul Tripathi, D’Arcy Short, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Sudhesan Midhun, Ben Laughlin, Mahipal Lomror, Aryaman Birla, Jatin Saxena, Dushmantha Chameera, Heinrich Klaasen, Ish Sodhi.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (C), Quinton de Kock, Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Manan Vohra, Aniket Choudhary, Navdeep Saini, Murugan Ashwin, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Siraj, Corey Anderson, Parthiv Patel, Aniruddha Joshi, Pavan Deshpande, Tim Southee.
