Rajasthan Royals will square off against Gujarat Titans at the Sawai Mann Singh Stadium in Jaipur on Wednesday evening. The 24th match of IPL 2024 is scheduled to begin at 7 30 PM on Tuesday.
The Toss
The pitch at Sawai Man Singh Stadium has turned out to be a batting paradise lately. When we look at overall records, 55 IPL matches have been played here and the average first innings total is 160. But in the last ten matches, the average first innings total has risen to 181. It has become even better this year – the three matches played here so far boasts a first innings average of 187.
Though overall results suggest batting second is a good option, Royals may choose otherwise on Wednesday of they win the toss. In the 55 matches, 20 times teams setting the target have won while 35 times the chasing teams have won the match.
However, in this season, 2 matches have been won by Rajasthan Royals batting first while in one match they batted second but still won the tie.
Looking at the current trend, teams may choose to bat first, set up a big score, and wait for the opponent to crumble under score-pressure.
Rajasthan have the batting resources in Buttler, Jaiswal, Samson, Parag and Shimron Hetmeyer to lift the heavy weights; question is whether Gujarat Titans can match them fire-to-fire?
The Pitch
The pitch here is good for batting and bowlers have to bowl a good line here to succeed. Boult and Avesh Khan have shown the necessary skills to excel on this turf. According to Rajasthan Royals coach Trevor Penny, the pitch may assist spin bowling in the latter stages. It is in this department that the Titans may feel they have the upper hand with the Afghan spin-twin of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed well qualified to do the damages.
The Royals too can match Gujarat’s spin attack as they themselves have an enviable spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.
If teams can use the dimension of the ground well, the spinners can come into play here and we may expect an exciting thriller.
