An express pace-bowler using bouncers to rattle him, is the strategy teams are adopting to stop Chris Gayle. Mumbai Indians did it on Saturday and Rajasthan Royals need to do it on Monday.
It could mean Shaun Tait comes back into the Rajasthan side as they take on the mighty Royal Challengers Bangalore here at the Sawai Man Singh stadium in Jaipur. The Royals had adopted this strategy against RCB when the two sides met in Bangalore earlier this month. Interestingly, that was the last time when Tait played a match in the IPl. Then, Rajasthan had batted first, made a paltry 117 and lost the match by seven wickets. One can expect Tait to replace Kevon Cooper and it would make all four Australians — Shane Watson, Brad Hodge and Purple cap holder James Faulkner — as the four foreigners in the side. The other fast bowler available for them is Fidel Edwards, who has more control on the pace than Tait.
They would also look at including S Sreesanth as, with him and Tait/Edwards, they can have the option of fighting Gayle’s fire with fire. Though both can also go for runs, it would be a gamble worth taking. Then, they have the variety in off-spinner Ajit Chandila, (he has four wickets in last two ties in the Pink City) and wicket to wicket bowler Sidharth Trivedi. But the Royals’ bowling unit would be on radar as they face brute force at its best.
Orange cap holder Gayle has been a phenomenon again in the sixth season with 450 runs in nine games and the record-shattering 175 against the Pune Warriors. The RCB also have captain Virat Kohli, third on highest run scorers list in IPl 6, to go with South African AB de Villiers and Thilakaratne Dilshan, though the Sri lankan is not in the best of form. They have an envious batting order and opponents cannot rest. So, a very interesting battle is on the cards.
Apart from scratching his head in the team selection area, Rahul Dravid has a dual role of being Rajasthan’s premier batsman with Watson. He would know that RCB bowler’s in RP Singh, Jaidev Unadkat, R Vinay Kumar and Ravi Rampaul may not be threatening but a unit which knows its limitations well, especially when it comes to curbing the runs. They might think of bringing back Muttiah Muralitharan or even Murali Karthik for the variety part, both can look to curb Watson.
In the last game between the sides, Royals looked to over-attack Bangalore and failed miserably. On Saturday against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, they mixed caution with aggression while chasing a gettable 144 and thrived with an eight-wicket win. Their strategy is that with two batsmen in the top-four — Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane — being the accumulators while Watson, wicket-keeper Dishant Yagnik, Stuart Binny, Hodge and even Faulkner can press the accelator button. But, Hodge is their go-to guy, who adapts to the situation of the game.
RCB are second on the points table with six wins from nine matches but none of their wins have come while touring. On the other hand, Rajasthan are third and have not lost a match at home in the season with four wins.
Its battle Royal 2, get set for some Monday madness.