The race toward the playoffs among IPL teams will have its last stop when Royal Challengers Bangalore plays against Gujarat Titans. This match will be played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, the home ground of Royal Challengers Bangalore. It will kick off at 07:30 PM IST on May 21, 2023. The Gujarat Titans team is at the top of the points table with 18 points and has already qualified for the playoffs. Royal Challengers Bangalore has 14 points on the table, which means a comprehensive win here will take the team to the playoffs.
Match Preview
Gujarat Titans has been blessed with the best players in the team’s core, who performed strongly in the last two years. The top order of Gujarat Titans showed a standout performance in IPL 2023. Shubman Gill is the best batter of Gujarat and a permanent part of the Indian cricket team. He is the 2nd highest run scorer of IPL 2023 with 576 runs. His partner, Wridhimann Saha, is an experienced player with a few good innings at the top-order position. Captain Hardik Pandya comes at the one-down position. He performed in a few matches but needs to have the consistency of Shubman Gill. The middle order is a little concern for the team. However, David Miller is one of the best batsmen in the world in that position. He scored runs in almost every game but could not get past fifty runs in a single inning. Gujarat played Sai Sudharsan in a few games, and his performance was satisfactory. Rahul Tewatia is given the role of finisher, which comes later in the batting inning and smashes bowlers for sixes.
The bowling lineup of Gujarat Titans is the best in this competition. The team’s top position in the points table is all because of the excellent bowling performances of its bowlers. Muhammad Shami leads the pace attack. He is the highest wicket-taker of IPL 2023 so far. He took wickets in every situation, either bowling with the new or old ball. Mohit Sharma has a great experience of playing in IPL. He bowled well for the team in the last few matches. The team will pick one overseas fast bowler, either Alzarri Joseph or Josh Little. Captain Hardik Pandya can bowl a few overs of fast bowling. The spin bowling attack has the best leg spinner in the world, Rashid Khan. Khan is the joint-highest wicket-taker of IPL 2023 with his teammate Shami. Another young Afghan spinner Noor Ahmed bowled great spells in the last few games. Rashid and Noor provided the breakthrough in the middle overs and took the team to victory.
Royal Challengers Bangalore has the best top order in this IPL. Captain Faf du Plessis is at the top of the IPL 2023 runs chart as he surpassed the 700 runs mark this season. He is the only batter in this IPL to do so. Virat Kohli is the 2nd best batter of RCB. Kohli scored a century in the previous match, so his confidence is sky-high. The 3rd best player is Australian hard hitter batter, Glenn Maxwell. Glenn Maxwell scored many runs in this IPL, and his strike rate is more than any other batter in the squad. The top three batters scored the bulk of runs for Royal Challengers Bangalore. The thing to worry about for the team is the performance of other batters. The team has experienced Dinesh Karthik in the middle order, along with Mahipal Lomror and Kedar Jadhav. All these three batters struggled in this IPL. The team picked up New Zealand allrounder Michael Bracewell in the middle order, who could not get enough time to bat due to the extraordinary performance of the top order.
The bowling lineup of RCB depends upon the performance of fast bowlers. Muhammad Siraj is the best bowler of the team. He bowled with good pace and took wickets in every game. Muhammad Siraj did not have a permanent partner with him in this IPL. There are many changes to the playing 11s, especially in bowling. Wayne Parnell has played the last two games and earned a Player of the Match award in one of them. It means he will play alongside Siraj. Harshal Patel has been playing consistent games for the last month. He took wickets in the previous few games, which means he will be a key bowler in the upcoming match. The spin bowling attack has Wanindu Hasaranga in it, but he could not perform well. So, RCB had to stick with local boy Karn Sharma. Sharma has done a fine job in the last two games. Shahbaz Ahmed is another spin bowling option that is not as good as other spinners on Indian soil. Glenn Maxwell and Michael Bracewell are two spin-bowling allrounders that gave Faf du Plessis options to use as bowlers.
Pitch Report
The average score at Chinnaswamy Stadium is 166, which means it is a batting-friendly track. RCB scored the highest total in the IPL history on this ground. The boundaries are short that allow batters to hit sixes and fours. Fast bowlers get some assistance in the first 2-3 overs. Leg spinners have good stats on this ground.
Weather Report
The weather report is not suitable for both teams. There is a strong prediction for rain in the match. This match can be called off if there is heavy rain. Otherwise, a game with fewer overs is possible.
GT vs RCB Head to Head in IPL
Total Matches = 2
RCB won = 1
Gujarat Won = 1
Key Players
Shubman Gill is the top scorer of Gujarat Titans, with 576 runs in 13 matches. Hardik Pandya and David Miller are the other two key team batsmen. Muhammad Shami and Rashid Khan are the top bowlers of RCB, with 23 wickets each.
Faf du Plessis scored 702 runs in IPL 2023, the most by any batter. Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell are the team’s 2nd and 3rd highest run-getter. Muhammad Siraj and Harshal Patel are the top two wicket-takers of the team.
Match Prediction
Gujarat Titans has a complete squad, and their batting lineup has been performing well. The best thing is that they have the best bowling lineup in this IPL season. On the other side, the middle order of RCB is weak, and their bowling is also not that good. So, Gujarat Titans will win this match. However, the rain factor can change the results.
