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RR and RCB last met on October 17, 2020, in the 33rd match of the IPL 2020 in Dubai. RR batted first and made what appeared to be a competitive total. After an opening stand of 50, they lost a flurry of wickets to be reduced to 69 for 3 before a rescue act by Steve Smith and Jos Buttler took them to the relative safety of 127 for 4 in the 15th over. RR finished with 177/6 in their allotted overs, thanks mainly to Smith’s unbeaten 55 off 36 balls, with supporting innings from Uthappa (41 off 22 balls) and Buttler (24 off 25) as well as a cameo by Tewatia (199 off 11). Chris Morris (4/26) and Chahal (2/34) were the picks of the RCB bowlers. But RCB made light work of the target, reaching it with 7 wickets and 2 balls to spare. After they were reduced to 102 for 3, De Villiers (55 off 22 balls) and Gurkeerat Mann (19 off 17) raised an unbeaten 77-run stand. Earlier, Paddikal (35 off 37) and Kohli (43 off 32) chipped in with useful knocks. For RR, Gopal, Tewatia and Tyagi took a wicket each.
Head-to-headp>There is nothing to choose between the sides in an h2h comparison. Both have won 10 matches each in 23 games between them, with 3 matches ending without result.
Likely XIs
RCB: Kohli, Paddikal, Shahbaz Ahmed, Maxwell, AB de Villiers, Sundar, Christian, Jamieson, Harshal Patel, M Siraj, Y Chahal.
RR: Stokes, Vohra, Samson, Buttler, Dube, Parag, Tewatia, Morris, Gopal, Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman.
Analysisp>The induction of Maxwell into the RCB team has proved to be the perfect solution to RCB’s problems in season 2020 when they found that they did not have a batsman to hold the innings together or finish the innings on a high note if both Kohli and De Villiers failed to get going. Maxwell has clicked in both matches played so far and unlike the last season, he has a fixed batting place that is sufficiently high up the order to allow him to express himself. Meanwhile, RR are missing the services of Jofra Archer, in whose absence RR can survive only if their top order score to ensure a high score.
