Former Rajasthan Royals opener Graeme Smith reckons the inaugural champions will be keen to turn it around against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the second qualifier, which will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Friday. RR had lost the first qualifier against Gujarat Titans by seven wickets and they will look to bounce back stronger.
In fact, RR had posted a par score of 188 runs after Jos Buttler had scored a fine knock of 89 runs. However, RR’s death bowling, which has been their Achilles Heel, led to their downfall as they could not put a lid on the scoring rate.
Graeme Smith feels RCB will be more confident as they had beaten LSG by 14 runs in the first Eliminator at Eden Gardens, Kolkata whereas RR will need to pick themselves up after their disappointing loss versus GT.
“I think the challenge will be for Rajasthan Royals after their disappointing loss against Gujarat Titans (in Qualifier 1). They must be hurt. Can they pick themselves up? RCB, on the other hand, is on a high. They’ll be keen to turn it around and put back a high skill level in the game. So, I agree with Ravi that we are going to have a cracker of a game on Friday night,” Smith said while speaking on ‘Cricket Live’ on Star Sports.
Meanwhile, RCB has never won an IPL title despite making it to the final on three occasions. On the other hand, RR had won the inaugural season of the IPL when Shane Warne led them to glory.
“It’s been 14 years for RCB (as they’ve never owned that elusive silverware) and 13 years since Rajasthan won their last title in the inaugural season. So between the two of them, it’s been 27 years (laughs). They both want it badly and it will be a battle of Royals. Let’s wait for that one. It’s going to be a great contest as both the teams would want to win it badly,” Ravi Shastri said.
Both teams will look to bring their best to the table in the all-important game. RCB might have a slight advantage but it will be foolish to count RR out. Both teams had won one match against each other in the league stage earlier in the season.
