3 player battles to watch out for in RR vs MI, Match 38 of IPL 2024 ft. Rohit Sharma vs Trent Boult
Table-toppers Rajasthan Royals (RR) will play their final IPL 2024 match in Jaipur on Monday, April 22 as they get set to host five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI). The two teams have had contrasting starts to their season.
Rajasthan have lost just one game this season, that too on the final ball against the Gujarat Titans (GT). Mumbai, on the other hand, have lost four out of their seven games and have several issues in their bowling department that need to be addressed.
MI last won a game in Jaipur way back in 2012, a fact that would give RR great confidence going into the game. The Royals also beat Mumbai convincingly when the two teams met earlier this season at Wankhede Stadium.
However, with quality players on both sides, a victory for RR is not a foregone conclusion. On that note, let's take a look at three match-ups that could determine the fate of the match:
#3 Suryakumar Yadav vs Yuzvendra Chahal
Star batter Suryakumar Yadav has looked good since being back in the Mumbai Indians side after missing the first three games of the season. He is fresh off a fine 78 in the previous game and will be crucial for MI against a quality RR bowling attack.
The bigger boundaries at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium will bring SKY's sweep shots and cuts into play, and that makes his battle with leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal an intriguing one. Suryakumar has scored 83 runs from 71 balls against Chahal. However, the veteran leg-spinner has got the better of the star batter on three occasions.
#2 Jos Buttler vs Jasprit Bumrah
With 13 wickets from seven matches at an economy rate of just 5.96, Jasprit Bumrah has once again shown why he is arguably the best T20 bowler in the world. His comeback post-injury for India was sensational, and he has carried that form into the IPL 2024 season as well.
Bumrah caused immense problems for Jos Buttler in the reverse fixture, and we could be in for more of the same. Buttler is coming off the back of a heroic hundred and will be high on confidence. However, his match-up against Bumrah isn't great.
In all T20 cricket, Buttler has scored 65 runs in 75 balls against Bumrah, getting dismissed four times. MI will bank on their main man dismissing Buttler early.
#1 Rohit Sharma vs Trent Boult
Free of the captaincy burden, Rohit Sharma is on course to have his most prolific IPL season ever. In seven innings, he has scored 297 runs with starts in almost every IPL 2024 game. The only game in which he failed so far was against the Rajasthan Royals where he was dismissed for a golden duck by Trent Boult.
The RR pacer is a magician with the new ball and had Rohit edging an outswinger off the very first ball he faced in the reverse fixture. The veteran opener has scored 69 runs in 52 balls against Boult in all T20 cricket. However, he has also been dismissed five times. RR will be hoping that Boult can do the double over Rohit this season.