RR chase momentum reboot after lengthy break

Cast your mind back to Rajasthan Royals' campaigns in IPL 2023 and 2024. A dominant start before falling away and losing momentum – to the extent of losing games on the bounce – before missing out on the playoffs or at least a top-two berth which once seemed inevitable. As the ongoing season now builds towards the business end, there is an eerily familiar mid-season correlation on display.

The Royals looked every bit the team to beat in early April, shutting teams out in the Powerplay with bat and ball. What followed was a two-game blip and they have since blown hot and cold, finding themselves walking on familiar dodgy terrain again. Compounding this is the fact that they play Gujarat Titans on Saturday after a week of no cricket. Following that game is another week's break, by which time the points table ought to have taken a more definitive shape.

But a long gap can stall a team's momentum. Just ask Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who may not be anywhere near dicey territory but have endured defeat on either side of their lengthy break. That the Royals run into a GT side fresh off a hat-trick of wins only solidifies the narrative over whether they can keep cobwebs at bay.

In essence, this is a game that RR would not want to lose, lest they then assume the role of nervous watchers over the course of the week ahead. They have twice posted totals in excess of 225 in Jaipur, only to see them being chased down convincingly. Has the time come then for changes to their bowling attack whose teeth have certainly blunted with the exception of Jofra Archer? And is Dhruv Jurel still their best bet at number 3 despite his inability to pump momentum into the innings against spin?

The Titans have fewer questions to answer, although a flat surface could cast doubts again over whether they can gun down gargantuan totals, with the side built around stability over uber-aggression. Their recent wins have all followed a similar template – early inroads with the new ball, followed by a continued strangle in the middle-overs, handing a top-heavy batting order a below-par total to chase.

They would know very well as to why that is key again on Saturday, for it was in this very fixture last year that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi announced himself with a 35-ball hundred. And for a team on the upswing and peaking at the right time, GT ought to be well-prepared – something that RR would be wary of. With a loss set to push RR out of the top-four, this is a match that could have serious implications over the two teams' respective qualification chances.

When: Rajasthan Royals vs Gujarat Titans, Saturday, May 9 at 7:30 PM IST

Where: Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

What to expect: Another hot day with clear skies. If totals of 228 and 225 chased down at the venue this season are anything to go by, another run-fest could be on the cards. For a change, the Royals may not mind that considering that GT are a tough nut to crack on tackier decks.

Head to Head: 6-3 in favour of GT after nine games. The Titans also hold a slender 2-1 lead in matches at Jaipur. RR, however, won the reverse-fixture earlier this season after Tushar Deshpande nailed his yorkers in a final-over thriller.

Injuries/Unavailability: There are no new injuries reported by the RR camp.

Tactics & Matchups: Nandre Burger's returns over the last three games read 1/150 off 11 overs. The sudden nosedive in his and Ravi Bishnoi's form could prompt a change, with RR potentially looking towards Adam Milne to partner Archer in the Powerplay.

Probable XII: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Ravindra Jadeja, Donovan Ferreira, Shubham Dubey, Dasun Shanaka/Tushar Deshpande, Jofra Archer, Adam Milne, Ravi Bishnoi, Brijesh Sharma

Injuries/Unavailability: No injuries to report from the GT camp either.

Tactics & Matchups: With Jurel struggling to break free against spin (SR of 104.76 against spin in his last six games), there is a case for the Titans to introduce Rashid Khan a lot earlier, even if it means breaking away from their ploy of having Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada handling the Powerplay by themselves. Prasidh Krishna has not been part of the XII for three games running now, but with Manav Suthar unlikely to bowl against an RR side stacked with left-handers, the lanky seamer may just return in his place.

Probable XII: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rahul Tewatia, Arshad Khan, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Manav Suthar/Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj

Key Stats

• Rabada has bowled nearly two-thirds of his overs in the Powerplay (64.1%) – the highest ever for him in an IPL season. He has also picked up 11 wickets in this phase in IPL 2026 – again his most in an IPL season.
• The Royals had the best average, strike-rate and economy rate in the tournament after their first four games. Since then, they have gone at nearly 10 runs per over while averaging 35.96 per wicket, with those numbers placing them in the bottom half of the bowling charts.
• Donovan Ferreira's strike-rate of 204.82 is the highest for a batter in T20s in overs 16-20 since 2025.

What They Said

"Our matches are not high-scoring, we are dismissing teams for 150 (laughs). The high-scoring (games) that you are talking about, it depends a lot on the conditions… But yes, the kind of bowling attack we have, we would like to…restrict them to as low a score as possible" – Parthiv Patel, GT's Assistant Coach.

"I don't think I need to answer any critics or anyone talking about it. But at the end of the day, my job is to get two points. So my score and my innings don't really matter if we lose the game" – RR captain Riyan Parag after striking form with a 50-ball 90 against DC.