IPL 2018 RR vs KXIP preview: Racing against time, Royals host Kings

JAIPUR: Rajasthan Royals have never won their last five games to qualify for the playoffs or semifinals. Whenever they have made it to the last-four stage, it has been well before time. This time, they have to do a ‘Mission Impossible’: win all their remaining five games and hope that their net run-rate improves too.
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Sitting at the bottom of the IPL table, they have only six points from nine matches and five wins can help them reach the magical 16-point mark, which is regarded as the ‘safe’ zone.Teams have made it to the top-four with 14 points too, but then a lot of permutations and combination come into play. That though is the easier part, the difficult one is to get onto the field and get that win because Royals this year have done anything but that.
ALSO READ: Kings XI Punjab beat Rajasthan Royals to go third
Their do-or-die show starts by hosting the high-flying Kings XI Punjab at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Tuesday, weather permitting. Rain and thunderstorm have been forecast for the afternoon. The return game though comes two days after the Ajinkya Rahane ledside lost to Punjab by six wickets in Indore. In that game, Rajasthan’s batting succumbed to the pressure and managed only 152. That was a match after they had almost chased down Delhi Daredevils’ 151 in 12 overs, losing by four runs.
And, that’s been their story: inconsistency. If they have made 217 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on one day, they have also failed to chase down 151 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at home on the other day.
Perhaps the biggest disappointments for Tuesday’s hosts have been their biggest buys, Ben Stokes and Jaydev Unadkat. The former, who was bought for a whopping Rs12.5 crores by the franchise in January, has just two wickets in nine games while the latter’s Rs 11.5 crores has yielded just seven scalps. Stokes has also not been productive with the bat as he has managed just 160 runs with a highest of 45 and an unconvincing strike rate of 123.07.
Sanju Samson has been among the runs — 310 in nine games — but his habit of getting out after having done the hard work, over and over again, is what stops him from taking that next step, from having the potential to justifying it with consistently big scores. Jos Buttler opening the batting can be a case of ‘two little two late’ as 118 of his 238 runs have come from his last two innings, that’s when he started opening.
Overall, it is the Royals batting that has been the weak link even if the bowlers have done their bit. Against Chennai Super Kings earlier in the tournament, with Shane Watson and MS Dhoni at the crease and CSK at 150 for 2 in 13 overs, Royals bowlers gave only 54 in the last seven. Then, against KXIP on Sunday, they made a match of 152 when they had Punjab struggling at 87 for 4 in 12.5 overs.
Scores of 125, 160, 167 and 152 while batting first in the season will rarely win you games.
With Chris Gayle and KL Rahul in great touch and Andrew Tye, Marcus Stoinis and Mujeeb Ur Rehman forming the well-oiled bowling unit, R Ashwin’s Punjab sit pretty at No. 3 on the table. They can go out and either have some fun or try the likes of Aaron Finch and David Miller among others.