Week 3 - Match 2 - Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Welcome to the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, home of the Rajasthan Royals.

Form

RR - DL
RCB - LW

Pitch Conditions: A slow pitch which should be a batting paradise for those batsmen that are used to subcontinent pitches. A bit of slow spin throughout and bowlers who can take pace off the ball will fare better than those who hit the deck.

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Please post tactics below...

Conditions certainly don't suit my bowlers, a lot thought will have to go into this one.

Watson
Dravid
Sangakkara (w)
Darren Bravo
Uthappa
Menaria
Venugopal Rao
Johan Botha
Chavan
Warne (c)
Nehra

This is the probable XI. Will post tactics later.

I hope I get to play under these conditions at some point, it fits my team perfectly!

I should have my team up by tonight.

Tactics

1) Upul Tharanga
2) Abhivan Mukund
3) Shaun Marsh
4) Manish Pandey
5) AB De Villiers
6) Saurabh Tiwary
7) Ravrinda Jadeja
8) Mitchell Johnson
9) Stuart Broad
10) Amit Mishra
11) Vinay Kumar

Team News

Upul Tharanga comes into the side as Steve O'Keefe misses out. RCB are almost unchanged after last weeks impressive victory over Mumbai. Thisara Perera and Jason Roy just missing out.

Batting

Upul Tharanga will come into the side to make the most of this slow flat pitch. He's used to sub-continent pitches so shouldn't struggle on this pitch. An extra batter could be vital in this game as RCB look to get 180 +. Our top order will look to target Chavan and Rao with AB and Marsh looking for the runs against the spinners in the middle-overs. Both comfortable to play any variation Rajasthans bowlers plan to come with. Tiwary, Jadeja and our long lower order will look to go all out in the final overs posting hopefully a score of over 180.

Bowling

Vinay Kumar and Mitchell Johnson will open the bowling with a lot of slower balls and slower ball yorkers coming Rajasthans way. Johnsons variation of slower balls, quick deliveries, bouncers and yorkers should keeper Rajasthans batting down to a low score in the first 5 overs. Mishra will then be introduced to see if there's much spin on this slow pitch. Broad, Jadeja and Mishra will bowl the majority of the middle overs with Kumar coming back for 1 over during the middle. Broad will look to bowl with more pace than Mishra and Johnson but will look for the surprised slower ball yorker and slower ball bouncer each over to catch the batter off guard. Johnson, Broad and Kumar all bowling the ending overs. The goal will be to keep Rajasthan down to 150 or less.

Johnson- 1, 3, 16, 20 ( 4 Overs)
Kumar- 2, 12, 14, 18 (4 Overs)
Mishra- 4, 6, 8, 10 (4 Overs)
Broad- 5, 7, 17, 19 (4 Overs)
Jadeja- 9, 11, 13, 15 (4 Overs)

Toss- Bat First

hard to argue with that side, it looks very strong to be honest.

Forgot to put what I would do if I win the toss so that's why it's edited.

Thanks btw CF

Watson
Dravid
Sangakkara (w)
Darren Bravo
Venugopal Rao
Uthappa
Menaria
Johan Botha
Chavan
Warne (c)
Nehra

Toss - bat first.

Selection - Darren Bravo, Sangakkara and Johan Botha are in due to the nature of the pitch. Junaid and Chahar miss out for the same reason. Rao preferred over Suman as he adds an extra bowling option.

Batting - Watson will look to score at a s/r of 150+ against the unreliable opening bowlers in Johnson, Kumar and Broad while Dravid won't hold back either. Vinay Kumar in particular will be targeted. Jadeja and Mishra will be knocked into the gaps early in their spells and then targeted towards the end by the middle order, all of which are competent players of spin. RCB bowlers should be easily negated by a batting line up containing 4 quality international batsmen.

Bowling - Johan Botha who is notoriously economical in t20 cricket will open the bowling along with Shane Watson. Nehra will only be used at the death to bowl swinging yorkers. The spinners will look to control the middle overs on a slow track. Canny left arm spinner Ankeet Chavan's deceiving flight through the air could cause problems as will without a doubt Shane Warne's leg breaks.

Botha 1,3,10,12 (4)
Watson 2,4,19 (3)
Chavan 5,7,9,11 (4)
Warne 6,8,15,17 (4)
Rao 13 (1)
Menaria 14,16 (2)
Nehra 18,20 (2)

i think rajasthan would struggle to get wickets to be honest.

cricketfan90 wrote:i think rajasthan would struggle to get wickets to be honest.

Warne, Botha and Chavan will be dangerous on this wicket, especially against Mukund, Pandey, Tiwary, Jadeja and Tharanga.

Tharanga with all his experience on sub-continent pitches I doubt.

Apart from that I would rather not say anything and just wait til voting day.

Liam_Main wrote:Tharanga with all his experience on sub-continent pitches I doubt.

Apart from that I would rather not say anything and just wait til voting day.

2 off 20 balls in the world cup final but I agree let the voters decide.

GG wrote:

Liam_Main wrote:Tharanga with all his experience on sub-continent pitches I doubt.

Apart from that I would rather not say anything and just wait til voting day.

2 off 20 balls in the world cup final but I agree let the voters decide.

5th highest run scorer in the World Cup may I remind you

im suprised that jadeja is the only spin option..

GG
mate,CF criticising your team can only be a good sign.I recall he said an attack of Price,Morkel and 3 Indian pie chuckers was better than Harris,Bresnan,Shakib and Ojha on a slow pitch.He was also making assumptions that the out of form Finch would suddenly strike form against a spin heavy attackon a slow pitch despite his well known weaknesses against spin whereas the great Indian uncapped Varun Aaron would bounce out Gayle,Gambhir,Morgan,Pathan and co on a slow and low pitch.

So dont let his judgement affect you.

Having said that both sides look very very strong and the toss will be crucial on this pitch.

cricketfan90 wrote:im suprised that jadeja is the only spin option..

I'm playing Jadeja and Mishra...

I think most of us including myself see Mishra as a batsman lol.

He has batting average of 20, couple of good innings in England doesn't automatically make him a batsman or even a all-rounder.

sorry liam i never saw mishra, however that looks to be a very strong RCB side.

shanky I wish you'd stop having a go at CF in every other post. It makes you look silly...

Regarding this game, Liam has the strongest bowling attack on paper but it's not well adapted to this pitch IMO, whereas GG's is. Could be a tight one...

[quote="Mad for Chelsea"]shanky I wish you'd stop having a go at CF in every other post. It makes you look silly...

If CF continues to dismiss attacks he doesnt like then I wont stop having a go at him.He is fully entitled to his opinion and can criticise any team provided he backs his opinion up with some logic or reasoning.But he doesnt.He just says that this attack will struggle and that attack will struggle and this bowler is gonna blow them away and all those sort of things.
And when I facepalm his comments he complains about it saying that I dont explain it.
Hyprocrisy isnt it?

i do find some of these comments funny, though mfc, it dosent bother me in the slightest mate

Mad for Chelsea wrote:shanky I wish you'd stop having a go at CF in every other post. It makes you look silly...

Regarding this game, Liam has the strongest bowling attack on paper but it's not well adapted to this pitch IMO, whereas GG's is. Could be a tight one...

Agree and agree. May not look like it suit the conditions but Johnsons cutters and Vinay's cutters I feel will play a big part.

Johnson yeah, excellent record on the subcontinent I think. Broad I don't think is suited to this pitch, and Kumar I'm not sure about...

I was actually going to have Perera in there but thought it would weaken my bowling rather than strengthen in it. I would also say batting plays the major part in this game rather than bowling.

vinay kumar would be key on this pitch, his slower balls and cutters would be useful on this slow pitch