GUWAHATI: All discussions about Rajasthan Royals’ highflying start to the season have centred on a certain 15-year-old phenomenon, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. The eve of Royals’ third and last home match this season here at their ‘second home ground’ was not different either, even with the in-form defending champions Royals Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), inspired by King Virat Kohli, coming to the city for the first time.
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Royals’ fast bowling coach Shane Bond was full of praise for the teen prodigy on Thursday. “He’s incredible. I have a 17-year-old son and when I compare him to Vaibhav, what he’s doing is remarkable,” Bond said. Highlighting his maturity level and developing game awareness, the former Kiwi pacer added, “It’s not just reckless hitting, he’s picking the right balls and showing growth. There’s a maturity in his batting.”
While the boy wonder has expectedly translated his flamboyance into match-defining knocks up front, his ‘senior’ opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal has displayed his class with calm and composed knocks to hold the Orange Cap with 170 runs including two half-centuries to his name from three games.
If the batting, led by the openers’ blistering innings, has given the home side solid platforms for victories, their bowlers have done their job to near perfection.
However, on Friday, they will take on a side which is in a similar good form. Comfortably winning their first two games, defending champions RCB look to have started from where they left off last season.
With batting and bowling units firing in unison, the Rajat Patidar-led side will aim to halt the Royals juggernaut before they move to their Jaipur home. Although all the top order batters have been firing for RCB, it’s Devdutt Padikkal who has held the spotlight scoring beautifully paced half-centuries in their last two games.
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NUMBER GAMES
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4 – Ten-wicket wins for RCB, the most in the IPL. Two of those have come against Rajasthan Royals, in Bengaluru in 2010 and at the Wankhede in 2021.
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113 – Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 113 off 72 balls in Jaipur on April 6, 2024 is the highest individual score in RR-RCB matches.
—Stats: Rajesh Kumar
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