Rajasthan Royals vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL: Preview and TV Info

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s 100 percent record is at an end in the Indian Premier League, but they have the chance to get back to winning ways when they face the Rajasthan Royals.

Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Date: Saturday, April 26

Start time: 11:30 a.m. BST/2:30 p.m. local time

Live on: Sony Six, Star Sports HD, Star Sports 1 (India), ITV4 (United Kingdom), SuperSport (South Africa), OSN (UAE) SkyTV (New Zealand), Network Ten (Australia), Channel 9 (Bangladesh), Sportsnet and Omni (Canada), Sports Max (West Indies), Geo Super (Pakistan), Starhub (Singapore).

Weather: According to Weather.com, Abu Dhabi promises to be sunny and warm, with temperatures reaching 36 degrees Celsius.

Overview

The Rajasthan Royals have not had an easy time of it so far, taking just one victory and losing twice in their opening three games.

Their latest defeat against the Chennai Super Kings will be very disappointing, especially as it was only by seven runs.

Rajasthan did well to restrict the Super Kings to 140-6 from their 20 overs, an infinitely reachable target that should have been well within their grasp.

However, their batsmen were unable to make any telling contributions, with No. 10 Dhawal Kulkarni ending up as their top scorer with 28 not out from 19 balls.

The Royals reached 133 all out, just short of victory and outside the playoff places with an inferior net run-rate.

Bangalore, meanwhile, lost a close one of their own against the Kolkata Knight Riders by only two runs in what was a tense contest.

The bowling effort was led by Varun Aaron, whose 3-16 helped restrict Kolkata to 150-7 from their 20 overs.

In reply, Bangalore got very close indeed in reaching 148-5, but their two overseas seam bowlers Albie Morkel and Mitchell Starc were unable to get them over the line with the bat.

With both teams stinging after tight defeats, this game is sure to be another close one.

Team News

Rajasthan Royals (from): Shane Watson (capt), Brad Hodge, Unmukt Chand, Karun Nair, Ajinkya Rahane, Steven Smith, Rajat Bhatia, Abhishek Nayar, Ben Cutting, Kevon Cooper, Stuart Binny, James Faulkner, Dishant Yagnik, Ankush Bains, Sanju Samson, Iqbal Abdulla, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tewatia, Ankit Sharma, Pravin Tambe, Tim Southee, Dhaval Kulkarni, Kane Richardson, Vikramjeet Malik, Amit Mishra

Royal Challengers Bangalore (from): Virat Kohli (capt), Parthiv Patel, Tanmay Mishra, Yogesh Takawale, Vijay Zol, Yuvraj Singh, Varun Aaron, Ashok Dinda, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Sachin Rana, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shadab Jakati, Sandeep Warrier, Harshal Patel, Nic Maddinson, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Albie Morkel, Mitchell Starc, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ravi Rampaul

Key Players

Tim Southee

New Zealander Tim Southee may not have had the best of times in his last game for the Royals, but he remains a key operator with the new ball.

He will be looking to bounce back in this game, having gone wicketless in what was his first IPL appearance of the year.

Varun Aaron

In this year’s IPL, Varun Aaron has shown himself to be an enormously capable fast bowler good enough to profit on almost any surface.

He may not be as well-known as some of his team-mates, but Aaron has overshadowed them so far with his wickets.