RR vs LSG: Match Preview - Upbeat Royals look to brush past first defeat

The Royals faced their first loss of IPL 2022 in their previous game, but a positive mood and refreshed faces in the camp suggest they’re ready to bounce back.

Ah, the double-edged sword that is T20 cricket! Beautiful and mesmerising, yet ruthless and heartbreaking. Our last match against Royal Challengers Bangalore was full of such moments, with emotions swinging from one end to the other. We fought hard, but in the end it just wasn’t our night. A loss like that is always tough to accept, but it only makes us go back, work hard, and come back stronger. At the Royals, belief is everything.

“We know that it’ll keep going up and down, but we believe in each other. And this is the time we need to show that.”

Captain Sanju Samson’s words of encouragement continue to reverberate through the dressing room at Wankhede, where we return for another battle on Sunday, against Lucknow Super Giants.

Match Details

Rajasthan Royals vs Lucknow Super Giants - 10 April 2022

Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

7:30 PM IST

This will be the Royals’ second consecutive match at the Wankhede Stadium and their first ever against the newly-added Lucknow franchise. Lucknow Super Giants played their season opener here, which ended in their only defeat so far. Since then, they’ve been on a three-match winning streak, and the Royals will be eager to stop them in their tracks. This is a happy hunting ground for pacers, with teams batting second having won 71% of the matches here since IPL 2021. The dew continues to be a deciding factor at the toss.

The Royals have played spin well so far this season. Across three matches, they have lost only one wicket to spin and it came in their last outing, when Sanju was dismissed by Wanindu Hasaranga. However, Sanju has otherwise been leading the charge against spin, with a humongous strike rate of 245 in three games.

Player battles to watch

Quinton de Kock vs R Ashwin & Yuzvendra Chahal

Lucknow opener Quinton de Kock has faced the Royals’ spin duo in a combined 16 T20 innings, scoring just 109 runs. While Chahal has dismissed him five times, Ashwin has had his number on four occasions. It will be interesting to see how captain Sanju uses the duo against the southpaw.

Jos Buttler vs Krunal Pandya

Jos Buttler has looked in solid touch right from the start of the tournament and will be keen to continue in the same vein. Against Krunal Pandya, he has scored 53 runs in four innings with a strike rate of 166 and is yet to be dismissed by the spinner. Jos has also had the most success in the IPL at Wankhede, so don’t rule out another batting feast from the Englishman! 🤞

Most runs for Jos Buttler at an IPL venue

Venue	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike rate
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai	18	547	34.2	146
Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur	10	434	54.3	143
Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi	4	234	58.5	183
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi	4	184	92.0	160

Team News

Time will tell if the Royals make any changes to their Playing XI based on the last game’s result. We had Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer and Jos as the three overseas players in the XI last time out, so there is one more spot up for grabs. Whether the management decides to bring in an overseas pacer, an all-rounder or continues to bank on their pace trio of Navdeep-Prasidh-Boult remains to be seen.

Milestone Watch

Both Ashwin and Chahal have taken 146 wickets in the IPL so far. They need 4 wickets each to reach the 150-wicket mark. The first one to get there will become only the 4th spinner in IPL history to do so.