Photographs: Gareth Copley / Getty Images
Back on home turf after a comprehensive victory in their previous match, Rajasthan Royals start firm favourites when they take on the struggling Deccan Chargers in an IPL match in Jaipur on Tuesday.
Riding on Ajinkya Rahane's unbeaten hundred and Owais Shah's blazing fifty, Rajasthan beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 59 runs in Bangalore on Sunday to recover from back-to-back losses in Kolkata and Mumbai.
The biggest positive to be drawn from the win was the cracking form of Rahane and Shah.
Champions of the inaugural IPL, Rajasthan have also benefitted from the experience of their captain Rahul Dravid, who has filled in the void left by Shane Warne quite commendably so far.Royals' batsmen have been impressive
Photographs: Hamish Blair / Getty Images
Rahane, the orange cap holder for the moment, has been the pick of the batsmen and has emerged as the only centurion so far in the current edition of the IPL.
The 23-year-old has impressed with his shot-selection and temperament.
Shah, too, has been outstanding and has delivered when the situation has demanded as far as accelerating the run rate is concerned.
Dravid has also been able to forge good opening partnerships with Rahane so far, while the rest of the batting comprising Ashok Menaria and Brad Hodge have been impressive.
Their bowling line-up, which is devoid of any big names, has also been consistent. Medium pacers like Sidhartha Trivedi, Amit Singh, Kevon Cooper and Pankaj Singh have taken their chances.Chargers' batsmen need to come good
On the other hand, Deccan Chargers seem to be a team in disarray as they have lost both their matches and their batsmen -- Parthiv Patel, skipper Kumar Sangakkara, Cameron White, Darren Bravo and Shikhar Dhawan -- have not been able to convert good starts into long innings.
As far as bowling is concerned, South African quickie Dale Styen has been impressive but others like Manpreet Gony, Daniel Christian as well as spinners Amit Mishra have been unable to stem the run flow at crucial junctures.
The slight drizzles in past couple of days has made the weather a little humid but while hosts will looking to carry on their winning streak, the visitors who are languishing at the bottom of the table would be aiming to put their act together.
Teams (from):
Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Shreevats Goswami (wk), Owais Shah, Ashok Menaria, Johan Botha, Kevon Cooper, Ankeet Chavan, Brad Hogg, Amit Singh, Siddharth Trivedi, Aakash Chopra, Abhishek Raut, Aditya Dole, Ajit Chandalia, Amit Paunikar, Amit Singh, Deepak Chahar, Dishant Yagnik, Faiz Fazal, Gajendra Singh, Pankaj Singh, Sreesanth, Samad Fallah, Stuart Binny, Sumit Narwal, Brad Hodge, Dinesh Chandimal and Paul Collingwood.
Deccan Chargers: Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk) Cameron White, Shikhar Dhawan, Jean-Paul Duminy, Manpreet Gony, Daniel Harris, Parthiv Patel, Dale Steyn, Rusty Theron, Ishank Jaggi, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Chris Lynn, Amit Mishra, Tanmay Mishra, Ashish Reddy, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Tekkami Atchuta Rao, Akash Bhandari, Bharat Chipli, Daniel Christian, Kedar
Devdhar, Veer Pratap Singh, Syed Quadri, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Akshath Reddy, Biplab Samantray, Sneha Kishore, Sunny Sohal, Tanmay Srivastava, TP Sudhindra, Arjun Yadav.
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