The time has come for the Indian Premier League (IPL) match for which the fans were eagerly waiting. Today (May 31), two of the best teams of the season, Gujarat Titans (GT) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are going to meet in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. RCB had finished at number-1 in the league stage, while GT was at second position. The team captained by Rajat Patidar has reached the finals by defeating GT in Qualifier 1. After the defeat at the hands of RCB, GT has booked the ticket for the title match by defeating Rajasthan Royals in a one-sided manner in the second qualifier match.
Although the match between GT and RCB is to be played for 20-20 overs, the picture of the match can be decided only in the first 6 overs. Both the teams have excellent fast bowlers of the new ball. GT’s Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj are among the bowlers who have taken the most wickets during the powerplay in the current season. While Rabada is immediately number-1 in this phase with 19 wickets, Siraj is jointly at third position with 14 wickets.
RCB’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar has taken 16 wickets in the powerplay this season and is at second position. In the title match, defending champion RCB will hope that Bhuvneshwar breaks the opening pair of GT quickly. If the pair of Shubhman Gill and Sai Sudarshan gets established then there may be problems for them. In 7 matches this season, the Gill-Sudarshan pair has been together till after 5 overs, in which GT has won 6 matches.
Swing king Bhuvneshwar is second after Rabada (28 wickets) in the list of bowlers taking the most wickets this season. He has taken 26 wickets in 15 matches so far. He can prove to be RCB’s trump card in the final. He has shown GT captain Gill the way to the pavilion 6 times in 14 innings in IPL. During this period, Gill has been able to score only 80 runs against him at a strike rate of 101. If Bhuvneshwar dismisses Gill before 5 overs, then GT team can come to its knees.
Bhuvneshwar also has a tremendous record against Jos Buttler. He has dismissed this legendary batsman 9 times in T20. The two have clashed 21 times so far, in which Butler has been able to score only 123 runs.
While Bhuvneshwar has a tough time in front of Gill-Buttler, GT’s Rabada and Siraj’s record against RCB’s top order is not weak either. Rabada has dismissed Virat Kohli 5 times in 17 T20 innings. Kohli has been able to score 131 runs in this encounter. When GT and RCB teams faced each other in the league stage in Ahmedabad, Rabada took the wicket of Kohli. Today she can trouble Kohli again. On the other hand, Siraj would like to maintain his dominance against the in-form Devdutt Padikkal. Siraj has dismissed this young batsman 3 times in 8 innings in IPL.
