Even though Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Rajasthan Royals badly on April 14 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, the team led by Sanju Samson still has a chance to make it to the IPL playoffs. But it’s not easy to get to the same place.
When these two teams play on Friday, May 19, at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala, Rajasthan Royals must first and foremost beat Punjab Kings by a comfortable score.
During the game, the team will try to improve their net run rate, which is a very important part of moving on to the next round.
Aside from that, the team that won in 2008 will have to pay close attention to how the other teams do. At the moment, Mumbai Indians (14 points in 12 matches), Lucknow Super Giants (13 points in 12 matches), Royal Challengers Bangalore (12 points in 12 matches), Punjab Kings (12 points in 12 matches), Kolkata Knight Riders (10 points in 12 matches), and Sunrisers Hyderabad (8 points in 11 matches) are still in the hunt, so things look really bad for Rajasthan.
Now, RR needs Mumbai Indians to lose their next two games against Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad for them to qualify. On the other hand, Lucknow will have to lose against Kolkata Knight Riders in their last league game. In the meantime, RCB must lose their last two games against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans, while Delhi Capitals must beat Punjab Kings. Even after all of this, the team will have to wait and see how KKR and SRH do in their last games. This makes things very hard for them right now. In the long run, net run rate will be very important, and the team will need to keep an eye on that as well.
The team led by Sanju Samson is currently sixth in the IPL points table, which is an interesting fact.
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