The Cricketer takes a look at the next fixture in the 2022 Indian Premier League season
Rajasthan Royals take on Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League.
The game will be played on Wednesday, May 11. The first ball will be bowled at 7.30pm local time (3pm GMT).
The game will be held at the DY Patil Sports Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
Delhi Capital have been consistent in their inconsistency this season. Their last five matches read: loss, win, loss, win, loss. While Delhi's batters are coming into some form – most notably skipper Pant, Warner, and Powell – their bowling has been a problem: Mustafizur Rahman and Kuldeep Yadav have gone the distance this season.
As for the Royals, their inability to go past 160 in their losses against Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders will be concerning. So too is Yuzvendra Chahal's recent lack of wickets: IPL 2022's purple-cap holder has struck just twice in four games. However, 3 for 28 from Chahal and high scoring win over Punjab Kings has given RR the confidence they need to cement play-off qualification.
For Rishabh Pant's side, David Warner is quietly having yet another excellent IPL season. An average of 53 and strike rate of 157 makes him one of the best batters in the competition – not that that will come as a surprise to many. Jos Buttler is perhaps the only man to rival the Australian: three hundreds and three fifties from 11 innings in the tournament is record-breaking form from England greatest white-ball batter.
Ravichandran Ashwin of Rajasthan Royals [screengrab/BCCI]
Buttler is a glue of Rajasthan's batting line up, and while he may still break Virat Kohli's record-setting 973-run season in IPL 2016, the rest of his team need to help him if they are to qualify. Samson and Jaiswal are the keys here, and will be coming up against an out-of-form Kuldeep Yadav.
DC's strong batting should make this a high scoring affair, so keep an eye on Pant and Powell – fireworks are likely when those two are at the crease.
Matches played: 25
Rajasthan Royals wins: 13
Delhi Capitals wins: 12
A warm day is expected in Mumbai, with highs of 32 degrees Celsius, falling to 31 degrees by the first ball of the match.
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, Jimmy Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell
Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Axar Patel, Anrich Nortje, David Warner, Mitch Marsh, Shardul Thakur, Mustafizur Rahman, Kuldeep Yadav, Ashwin Hebbar, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, KS Bharat, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, Lalit Yadav, Ripal Patel, Yash Dhull, Rovman Powell, Pravin Dubey, Lungi Ngidi, Tim Seifert, Vicky Ostwal
David Warner of Delhi Capitals [screengrab/BCCI]
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Kuldeep Sen, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal
Mumbai Indians: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Rovman Powell, Kuldeep Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman, Khaleel Ahmed
The bookies make Rajasthan Royals favourites for this match at 4/5. DC are 19/17 to win.
Both teams need a win for very different reasons: Rajasthan to confirm qualification; Delhi to keep themselves in the hunt. Both sides have lacked the consistency of the likes of Lucknow and Gujarat this season but definitely have the quality to be in the mix for title if they were to get a top-four place.
In the UK, Sky Sports have exclusive rights to this year's tournament, with matches available on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket.
Fans in India can watch all of the action on Star Sports.
Elsewhere in the world, viewers in Australia can watch the IPL on Fox Sports while in New Zealand, Sky Sport will provide coverage.
Willow TV and Flow Sports will broadcast the tournament in the United States and the Caribbean, respectively.
Fans in MENA can catch the action on beIN Sports while in South Africa, SuperSport have the rights.
The IPL can also be streamed on Disney+ and Hotstar in certain areas.
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