Laggards Royals, RCB look to get house in order

Jaipur, April 1 (IANS) Laggards Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will look to log their first win of the season and get their campaign back of track before its too late, when they lock horns in an Indian Premier League (IPL) tie at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Tuesday.

Both Royals and RCB have lost their opening three encounters and find themselves at the bottom of the table.

Owing to better net run rate Royals are above RCB who succumbed to a mammoth 118-run defeat on Sunday and are at the foot of the heap.

Royals too, were defeated by Chennai Super Kings though they gave a good fight going down.

After M.S. Dhoni led Chennai to 175/5 despite a slow start, Royals kept themselves in the chase throughout but eventually fell short by eight runs with Star England all-rounder Ben Stokes scoring a 26-ball 46.

Since the 'Mankading' incident, Jos Buttler has failed to get going and skipper Ajinkya Rahane too, failed on Sunday night. Returning from a one-year ban for his role in ball tampering, former Australia captain Steve Smith is also struggling to find his rhythm although there are questions as to whether he should bat at No.3.

Sanju Samson struck a brilliant hundred against Sunrisers Hyderabad but Smith can be best utilised at No.3 and it remains to be seen how Royals' think-tank go about it.

Ashton Turner is yet to get a game and in order to steady their ship, Royals could draft in the dashing Australian batsman who smashed an unbeaten 84 off 43 balls with the help of five fours and six sixes as India's total of 358-9 was made to look ordinary in the end of the fourth ODI in the recently concluded series.

In the bowling department, Jofra Archer has been excellent for the Royals and would look to continue his good work but will need support from the other end as well.

Coming to the visitors, Virat Kohli-led RCB have looked listless against Sunrisers on Sunday with David Warner and Jonny Bairstow taking thier bowlers to the cleaners en route whirlwind hundreds.

Despite having Kohli and AB De Villiers in their batting arsenal, RCB have failed to deliver with the team being over-dependent on the star pair.

Squads:

Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane, Krishnappa Gowtham, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Gopal, Aryaman Birla, S. Midhun, Prashant Chopra, Stuart Binny, Rahul Tripathi, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ish Sodhi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mahipal Lomror, Ajinkya Rahane, Krishnappa Gowtham, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Gopal, Aryaman Birla, S. Midhun, Prashant Chopra, Stuart Binny, Rahul Tripathi, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ish Sodhi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mahipal Lomror, Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aaron, Oshane Thomas, Shashank Singh, Liam Livinstone, Shubham Rajane, Manan Vohra, Ashton Turner, Riyan Parag

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel (WK), Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Shivam Dube, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Moeen Ali, Colin de Grandhomme, Pawan Negi, Tim Southee, Akshdeep Nath, Milind Kumar, Devdutt Padikkal, Gurkeerat Singh, Prayas Ray Barman, Kulwant Kejroliya, Navdeep Saini, Himmat Singh.