IPL 2024 RR vs DC Preview - Balance the key to success once again

Key match stats

Pitch Stats – Sawai Mansingh Stadium IPL records

Pitch stats from the 10 most recent IPL matches played at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium

Team form RR vs DC
RR: W
DC: L

Recent meetings: IPL 2023 - RR won by 57 runs

Weather

General Forecast: Overcast, dry
Chance of dew: Low

Preview RR vs DC

The Royals got their campaign off to a winning start by claiming victory here at the Sawai Mansingh against LSG. A fantastic knock by Sanju Samson who was well supported by Riyan Parag in a partnership of 93 helped to lay a solid foundation for the home side and perhaps more importantly allowed them to unleash a 6 man bowling attack which ultimately proved too much for the Super Giants.

If the Royals hope to stick to that tactic as the tournament continues then they'll need big performances from their top 6. We know that Buttler, Jaiswal and Samson are all very capable of scoring heavily but Riyan Parag is going to have to deliver on his undoubted talent far more regularly than we've seen in his first 4 seasons in the IPL.

Runs	Average	Strike Rate	50s
510	85.0	182.8	7

Riyan Parag Syed Mushtag Ali Trophy 23/24 stats

The Royals will certainly be boosted by his performance in the opening game which suggests Parag can transfer his form from the Syed Musthaq Ali trophy where he finished top scorer this year into the IPL season.

As for DC, their defeat against PBKS was reminiscent of so many of their performances over the last couple of seasons as a promising start evaporated thanks to the fall of regular wickets through the middle overs.

It meant that in comparison to the way the Royals were able to use their impact sub, the Capitals were left subbing a batsman for a batsman. The sub in question, Abishek Porel, played an absolute blinder to hit 32 off 10 balls and give DC a working total but it left them defending a below par score with 4 frontline bowlers + Marsh and Sumit Kumar. When Ishant Sharma then went off injured it pretty much sealed the Capitals' fate.

At the time of writing, there's been no official update on the injury to Ishant Sharma but losing him would be a major blow to the Capitals who have already suffered a disruptive start to the campaign with several other high profile signings pulling out of IPL 2024 or struggling for fitness.

He might also enjoy bowling on the pitch at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium which at least for the opening game of the 2024 season had a bit of grass on it and encouraged the likes of Trent Boult and Nandre Burger to steam in with the new ball.

Bowling strikes by IPL stadium over the most recent 10 matches

More generally, this has been a venue where spinners have taken the bulk of the wickets. That is in part due to the Royals regularly bowling 3 frontline slow bowlers last year but if this pitch does begin to dry out then it'll be a great battle between 2 of the best spin attacks in the tournament.

The impact however of Kuldeep and Axar Patel is very much dependent on DC getting sufficient runs to create scoreboard pressure and then having good pace options either side of their 2 left-arm spinners who will be effective in the middle overs if given a chance.

RR vs DC head to head

These 2 sides played the equivalent 2023 fixture at the Baspara Stadium in Guwahati so there is very little relevant data on the Capital's prior performances on this surface. The 4 frontline bowlers they picked for the opening game, Ishant, Khaleed Ahmed and the 2 left-arm spinners are the only members of the current DC squad to have played T20 cricket here before and none of them have had great success.

Current DC squad T20 bowling records at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium

Jaiswal looked like he had carried his form from the last 12 months into IPL 2024 with a knock of 24 off 12 balls before he went for one shot too many against Mohsin Khan. If previous encounters are anything to go by then he'll look to attack the 3 left-arm bowlers that DC are likely to have in their line-up during this game too.

Jaiswal combined T20 head to head vs Khaleel, Kuldeep and Axar

Of course, DC will see an opportunity if they can get Jaiswal early because the remainder of the Royals top 4 are all right handers and ideally, they won't want to bring their only other left-hander in Hetmyer to the crease until at least the final 3rd of the innings.

Rajasthan are banking on the fact that both Buttler and Samson have pretty decent career records against left-arm spinners (certainly relative to a lot of right-handed batsmen). However, we saw in their last game here against LSG where Krunal Pandya was able to bowl 4 overs for 19 runs that at the very least, left-arm spin can put the breaks on against these Royals right-handers.

Batsman	Ave vs Slow left-arm	Strike rate vs Slow left-arm	Ave vs Left-arm wrist spin left-arm	Strike rate vs Left-arm wrist spin
Buttler	44.1	134.9	59.7	150.4
Samson	35.0	140.7	20.3	132.6

RR bowling vs DC batting

The Royals have multiple options with which to attack DC's key batsman in David Warner. His dismissal in the opening match of the season sparked not so much a collapse but more a slow erosion of what had been a promising position of 74 for 1 after 8 overs.

All David Warner T20 dismissals vs Trent Boult

You'd imagine that Trent Boult will get first crack with the new ball at the Aussie who he has dismissed 3 times in T20 cricket including in the recently completed ILT20. If that doesn't work then expect Rajasthan to look to bring Ashwin into the attack whose record against left-handers is always excellent. He's dismissed Warner 5 times in previous T20 encounters.

Could this be the match that we really see the return of Rishabh Pant? He has fond memories of playing at this venue having hit an unbeaten 78 from just 36 balls to win the match for DC here in 2019. He also helped guide India home in a tight match against New Zealand at the same venue during a T20 in 2021.

Pant T20 record at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium

Abhishek Porel's brilliance aside, DC looked to be stuck in 2nd gear for much of the 2nd half of their innings against PBKS. Equally, Rajasthan closed out their innings against LSG very well. Nicolas Pooran looked well set to potentially make a late charge at the Royal's total but between them, Sandeep Sharma, Avesh Khan and Ashwin actually managed to slow the West Indian's scoring rate during those final 5 overs. They'll be looking to do something similar against a Capitals middle order that has not been full of runs in recent seasons.

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All stats used in this blog are from my own databases which are freely accessible below
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