Daily News: IPL 2020 LIVE SCORE, RCB vs RR Match: Steve Smith's men aim comeback in battle of Royals

Saturday, October 3, 2020

IPL 2020 LIVE SCORE, RCB vs RR Match: Steve Smith's men aim comeback in battle of Royals

13:55 (IST)

Table watch:

Both RCB and RR are in the bottom half of the table. Rajasthan sit at the fifth spot while Bangalore occupy the sixth position in the league table. Both teams have four points from three matches. RR are ahead of RCB by net run rate. Today's winner would go to the top of table, albeit temporarily.

13:48 (IST)

Kohli's RCB take on Smith's RR as teams eye top spot

The dew factor will go out of the window but the searing heat will be an issue as Royal Challengers Bangalore take on a better prepared Rajasthan Royals in the first of the 10 IPL double-headers.

Having played their first two games at Sharjah, the smallest of the three venues, RR got their strategy wrong in the game against KKR in Dubai. The ground in Abu Dhabi too is on the bigger side and RR's experience of playing in Dubai will help them take more informed decisions. RCB will also be making their first appearance at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium.

Click here to read the match preview

13:41 (IST)

Here's at look at the squads of both sides:

RCB: Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers(w), Shivam Dube, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Washington Sundar, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Adam Zampa, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Dale Steyn, Parthiv Patel, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Chris Morris, Pavan Deshpande, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Philippe, Shahbaz Ahmed

RR: Jos Buttler(w), Steven Smith(c), Sanju Samson, Robin Uthappa, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Tom Curran, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Ankit Rajpoot, David Miller, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Varun Aaron, Aniruddha Joshi, Manan Vohra, Andrew Tye, Shashank Singh, Mahipal Lomror, Oshane Thomas, Mayank Markande, Anuj Rawat, Kartik Tyagi, Akash Singh

13:30 (IST)

Hello and welcome to our coverage of Match 15 of IPL 2020 between Royals Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals to be played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. RCB clinched a thriller in their last encounter while Royals were comprehensively beaten by Kolkata. Steve Smith's team will be looking to stage a comeback in this game and get back to winning ways while Bangalore's would be looking to continue the winning momentum. Stay tuned for more updates as we build up to the first encounter in today's double-header.

IPL 2020 LIVE SCORE, Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals latest updates: Hello and welcome to our coverage of Match 15 of IPL 2020 between Royals Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals to be played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. RCB clinched a thriller in their last encounter while Royals were comprehensively beaten by Kolkata. Steve Smith's team will be looking to stage a comeback in this game and get back to winning ways while Bangalore's would be looking to continue the winning momentum. Stay tuned for more updates as we build up to the first encounter in today's double-header.

Preview: Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will play Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the searing Abu Dhabi heat on Saturday to kickstart doubleheaders in the ongoing 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Both teams are tied at four points, but the Steve Smith-led side are at the fourth place in the overall standings as of now, one place above Bangalore, on account of a slightly better run rate.

Saturday's match will be the first game for both teams in Abu Dhabi. Prior to this, RCB have played all three of their games in Dubai, while Rajasthan showed their batting might in their first two games in Sharjah before stumbling against Kolkata Knight Riders in Dubai.

Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Stadium is on the bigger side and Royals' experience of playing in Dubai should help them make more informed decisions. The afternoon start means dew won't be a factor and a dry pitch may offer assistance to spinners from both teams.

Since they have a settled overseas players' combination, one possible change in the Royals' playing eleven could be replacing pacer Ankit Rajpoot with Varun Aaron, who is yet to get a game.

The team has benched young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal after Jos Buttler's arrival but calls have been growing for his inclusion. With the top three of Smith, Buttler and in-form Sanju Samson picking themselves, the stylish southpaw can only play in the middle order. There's also a case of Smith dropping down the order to allow Jaiswal to open in order to ensure the youngster bats at his natural position and a left-right combination can go at the top.

Both Royals and the RCB go into Saturday's afternoon match with two wins in three games.

RCB have made a promising start but need to improve their fielding and death bowling. Navdeep Saini bowled a tidy Super Over against Mumbai Indians to get his team over the line after RCB leaked 79 runs in the last four overs for the game to be tied.

The Bangalore franchise made three changes in the previous clash and are likely to give those players - Isuru Udana, Adam Zampa and Gurkeerat Mann - another go.

The move to open the bowling with Washington Sundar paid off as the offie returned with figures of 12 for one in four overs in a game where more than 400 runs were scored.

Ab de Villiers has shown ominous touch and it must be heartening for the team management to see Shivam Dube providing the big hits towards the end against Mumbai Indians. Skipper Kohli is yet to set the tournament on fire and Saturday could be his day.

Here are the two squads:

Rajasthan Royals full squad: Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Riyan Parag, Robin Uthappa, David Miller, Ankit Rajpoot, Mayank Markande, Shreyas Gopal, Varun Aaron, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi, Akash Singh, Oshane Thomas, Andrew Tye, Rahul Tewatia, Shashank Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anirudha Joshi, Tom Curran, Sanju Samson, Anuj Rawat