Return of Zaheer Khan, who starred in his first game picking two wickets for just 17 runs
Delhi Daredevils bowler N Coulter-Nile celebrates with his teammates after he takes wicket of Kings XI Punjab batsman WP Saha during an IPL match. (Photo: AP)
MUMBAI: In a format like T20, sustaining momentum is always difficult. When the team has it, they breeze past opponents, but once lost, the same outfit struggles to replicate its performance. Rajasthan Royals started the season with a bang winning five games in a row, the joint-best start in IPL’s history. The Super Over defeat affected their rhythm and they lost their next match against Bangalore. To add to their misery, Rajasthan featured in both the wash-out games and with momentum clearly lost, suffered their third defeat against Mumbai Indians on Friday. They now have five games without a win.
The Royals will hope that their second ‘home’ this season — the Brabourne Stadium here in Mumbai — where they are slated to play three games starting with Delhi Daredevils on Sunday night — helps them end their unexpected dry run. On the contrary, the Daredevils shrugged off their sluggish start with a resounding nine-wicket over Kings XI Punjab sending out a strong message. The team that registered just two wins last season has already shown improvement with four wins from the eight games so far.
The return of Zaheer Khan, who starred in his first game picking two wickets for just 17 runs, has bolstered the line-up. Captain JP Duminy has been leading the team from the front. The South African has not shown resistance in rolling his arm over inside the first six overs to provide cushion to his frontline spinners Imran Tahir and Amit Mishra. The team now needs contribution from Yuvraj Singh, who has a string of four single-digit scores after his crucial fifty against Punjab that helped Delhi end their 11-match losing streak in Pune.
Royals, who trained at CCI before the tournament began, will once again bank on local boys Ajinkya Rahane and Dhaval Kulkarni, who are well aware of the track. Promising batsman Sanju Samson played a fine knock off 76 from 46 balls against Mumbai Indians and the team will hope Samson will carry on from where he left.
“It is really exciting for us to play at CCI as we have grown up playing here. We will share information about the wicket and the ground angles with the guys,” Rahane said on the eve of the match.
( Source : dc )
Next Story
