Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey

IPL 2020 Match 33: RR vs RCB Preview Dream11 Possible Playing 11 Pitch Report | RR vs RCB Dream11 Prediction Today | Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore Key Players | Dubai Pitch Report

This one has a few interesting backstories. The first, and most prominent, is the battle (or non-battle) between Virat Kohli and Steve Smith. Next is how Royal Challengers Bangalore will respond to questions about their tactics in their defeat to KXIP, such as sending the “superhuman” AB de Villiers out at number six. On the other side, one wonders how Rajasthan Royals will respond after botching a chase against Delhi, a few days after a pulling off an incredible win vs SRH.

The Royals need to win this one, as their playoff hopes are slowly slipping away. They are in desperate need of their captain scoring runs, with Smith scoring just 44 runs in his last six innings. If he can, it can enable the RR strokeplayers to play with freedom, which is the need of the hour.

For RCB, they will be looking for a repeat of the last time they played RR. Earlier this season, they restricted RR to 154, before Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal struck half centuries as they cruised to the target. This time, the stakes are higher, as RCB will be looking to further cement their top four spot.

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Key Players to Watch/Key Stats

• Before his 72* (53) against them earlier this year, Virat Kohli had a poor record against the Royals. But, now the RCB skipper has hit excellent form, with 286 runs in his last five knocks, with just two dismissals.
• His battle with Shreyas Gopal will be key. Gopal has a good record against Kohli (three dismissals) and RCB (13 wickets in five games).
• It will be interesting to see if RCB send AB de Villiers in if Gopal (four dismissals vs ABD) has overs under his belt. RCB held back the superstar vs KXIP, due to his underwhelming record vs legspin.
• However, RCB will be well-served to send de Villiers at his usual number four slot. The South African superstar has a strong record vs RR: 14 inns, 429 runs, avg. 39.00, SR 153.76.
• RCB’s own legspinner, Yuzvendra Chahal, nearly helped pull off a heist vs KXIP. He has the most wickets in RCB-KXIP matches (14 in nine games). Plus, Chahal was man of the match when RCB played RR earlier this season (3/24).
• RR need Jos Buttler to perform. The dynamic keeper-batsman looked in very good touch last game against DC (22 off 9 balls), before getting undone by the pace of Anrich Nortje. Is this the game he delivers?
• Can Ben Stokes build on his 41 vs Delhi Capitals? There is a good chance he will open again, so overcoming RCB’s powerplay bowling will be key. He averages just 15 vs RCB in three games, but has never opened against them.
• Devdutt Padikkal hit 63 (45) vs RR earlier this season. So, can Padikkal build on starts in his last three matches? (33, 32 and 18).
• The loss of form of Steve Smith and Sanju Samson has hurt RR. Smith has hit just one double-figure score (24) in his last six knocks, but has had some past starts against RCB (12 inns, 295 runs, avg. 29.50, SR 127.71). However, he has never hit a 50 against them – will today be the day?
• Samson has threatened to hit his best form in the last two games (26 and 25). But, RR need more. Samson does have 211 runs for RR vs RCB (avg. 26.38, SR 159.85), but this is dominated by one score of 92.
• Chris Morris has had a good start to life with RCB. He has conceded less than six an over in each of his first three games (five wickets), and also showed his capabilities with the bat last game (25* off 8 balls).
• Jofra Archer has been outstanding in IPL 2020. He has taken 12 wickets in eight games, including 3/19 last game vs DC and 1/18 vs RCB earlier this season. In fact, Archer has taken at least one wicket in each of his last seven games.
• Rahul Tewatia could have a crucial role to play with both bat and ball today. His batting has been superb this season (SR 142.95), and his legspin could test RCB.
• Washington Sundar needs to bowl in the powerplay. He has conceded just 4.5 per over at this stage this season.

Stats and Facts

• Head-to-head: Matches 22, RR 10, RCB 9, 2 NR, 1 abandoned.
• Aaron Finch will be key for RCB. However, can he overcome his spin problems? He has been dismissed to spin five times this season, averaging just 16.8.
• Jofra Archer has bowled 100 dot balls in IPL 2020. He is the only bowler to achieve this feat so far.
• RR will need to dismiss AB de Villiers in the first 10 balls. In his first 10 balls, de Villiers strikes at 122. After 10 balls, he strikes at 224.
• RCB beat RR comfortably by eight wickets earlier this season.

Possible Playing 11

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1. Devdutt Padikkal, 2. Aaron Finch, 3. Virat Kohli (c), 4. AB de Villiers (wk), 5. Shivam Dube, 6. Chris Morris, 7. Washington Sundar, 8. Isuru Udana, 9. Navdeep Saini, 10. Mohammad Siraj/Shahbaz Ahmed, 11. Yuzvendra Chahal

Rajasthan Royals: 1. Jos Buttler (wk), 2. Ben Stokes, 3. Steve Smith (c), 4. Sanju Samson, 5. Robin Uthappa/Manan Vohra, 6. Riyan Parag, 7. Rahul Tewatia, 8. Jofra Archer, 9. Shreyas Gopal, 10. Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Kartik Tyagi/Mayank Markande

Dubai Pitch and Weather Report

Teams that bat first dominate in Dubai. Both RCB and RR possess bowling attacks that will be keen to defend scores, so the captain who wins the toss will likely bat in this one. As this is a day game, there will be no threat of dew.

However, in the only day game at Dubai so far in IPL 2020, RR pulled off a great chase vs SRH last week.

Dream11 Prediction

Option 1:

Option 2:

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Match Prediction

A lot will depend on which top order will perform better. RR have lost too many wickets in the powerplay this season, so need to rectify this problem. For RCB, if they can effectively handle Jofra Archer and RR’s legspinners, they look to have more in-form players to get over the line. RCB the favourites, but the team batting first could take this one out.

Thanks for reading!