Thursday will see Rajasthan Royals (RR) take on Royal
Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 16th match of the IPL 2021. With
both sides having played three matches each and standing on different grounds
at the moment based on performance, this match can be a possible determining
factor to get a glimpse of the turns the tournament might be taking in coming
days.

Below listed are the five things that one should look out
for in today’s match:

1.     
A turnaround-struggle from the Royals: It has
been done before, and it certainly can be done again. Rajasthan Royals, who narrowly
lost their match against Punjab Kings and witnessed a decisive loss against Chennai
Super Kings, are currently placed on the seventh rank in the IPL 2021 league
table. RR, by no means, have a lack of firepower in their team and would give
their all to get a victory and level the win-loss ratio after this match, their
fourth in the competition so far.

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2.     
Consistency hazard: The Rajasthan squad, however,
suffers from a consistency problem in the upper and middle order, which has seen
an escalation after the departure of opener Ben Stokes due to injury. Jos
Buttler (49), who got runs in the previous match, was not ably assisted by
Manan Vohra (14), skipper Samson and the middle order, consisting of power
hitters like David Miller and Riyan Parag. RCB will be looking to take
advantage of this.

3.     
Surface: The Wankhede surface has proved to be
aiding the bowlers in the tournament so far, and with the dew factor coming in at
night, expect swing bowlers and pacers to take full advantage of it. RCB pacers
such as Kyle Jamieson and Mohammed Siraj would be playing a key role for their
team in this match. Similarly, Chetan Sakariya and Mustafizur Rahman wold be RR’s
go-to men.

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4.     
Middle-order dependency for Bangalore: In RCB’s
previous match against Kolkata Knight Riders, a major chunk of runs came from
Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers, the two middle order bats. Skipper Virat
Kohli and his co-opener Devdutt Padikkal could not strike as they might have
wanted to in the match. RR bowlers could potentially target this, and keep the
total score short to get a batting advantage.

5.     
Bowling efficiency: RCB bowlers were notably expensive
in their previous outing, the most expensive being Kyle Jamieson, with an
economy rate of 13.67. In a pace-friendly track such as Wankhede, Thursday’s
outing for Bangalore might spell out trouble if they do not restrict the run
flow for Rajasthan Royals.