GT rely on in-form pacer Siraj to restrict RR batters

Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals will hope that their stretched-to-the-hilt bowling units will find their range on an Ahmedabad flatbed in an IPL match that holds a lot of significance to their progress in the league.

Battle for crucial points

The Titans now have six points, and a win will keep them in the top echelons of the points chart, while the Royals, who now have four points, will need the win to wriggle free from the mid-table tussle.

GT have scored three wins on the trot, and RR two in successive matches to be placed where they are currently in the table, but that mini streak hides a rather underwhelming bowling effort.

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The Gujarat outfit are riding on individual brilliance by pacer Mohammed Siraj and spinner R Sai Kishore, but the form of ace spinner Rashid Khan and experienced quick Ishant Sharma is not encouraging even when they operated at the more helpful tracks at Bangalore and Hyderabad. 

Rashid, an accomplished T20 master, has taken just a wicket from four matches while giving away in excess of 10 runs per over. It’s easily the worst start the Afghan has experienced when compared to any of his previous IPL seasons.

Ishant is a co-sailor in that ship of turmoil, bagging just a solitary wicket in three matches while leaking 12 runs an over. Unfortunately, GT has no ready back-up available as pacers such as Arshad Khan have not really stepped up. The Titans are also still waiting on the fitness of South African pacer Gerald Coetzee, as a hamstring injury had curtailed his participation in the SA20 before ruling him out of last month’s Champions Trophy. His continued absence has weakened the GT attack with Kagiso Rabada returning home recently, citing personal reasons. So, they might be tested by the Rajasthan line-up, who have some explosive names in Sanju Samson, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag — all having scored at a strike-rate well over 150, while Nitish Rana has scored at over 180.

Jaiswal back among runs

The lone missing link is Yashasvi Jaiswal, whose 101 runs from four matches came at 131.16, but 67 of those came against Punjab Kings. RR will hope he can carry his form into this match, as even the Indian team management will be keeping a close eye on the left-hander’s outings.

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