IPL 2023: Inconsistent Rajasthan Royals to challenge Gujarat Titans for top spot

Gujarat Titans will be eager to move on from their underwhelming batting display when they take on an inconsistent Rajasthan Royals which will challenge the Hardik Pandyaled side for the top spot in the Indian Premier League here on FridayBoth teams are coming off losses and will look to get back to winning waysGujarat Titans are perched atop the points table with 12 points despite their fiverun loss to wooden spooners Delhi Capitals while the Royals are on the fourth spot and have 10 pointsAlso ReadSangakkara hails lone ranger Jaiswal predicts possible international callupThe Sanju Samsonled side has ample talent but has been unable to hold on to a winning run recently Rajasthan have lost three games and won as many in their last six fixturesIn their last match against Mumbai Indians the muchfeared bowling department failed to defend 212Pace spearhead Trent Boult allrounder Jason Holder spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Sen all leaked runs They would hope for a better show at home on FridayThe Royals can take a bit of solace from the fact that they emerged victorious earlier in the season against GTRajasthan have the firepower in their batting lineup to pile up runs Young Yashasvi Jaiswal is enjoying a fine run but the team needs the trio of Jos Buttler Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer to fireThey will have their task cut out when they are up against the potent GT bowling attack led by Mohammed Shami and the wily Rashid KhanA win for Rajasthan who have a Net Run Rate of 800 at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium will catapult them to the top of the tableThe Titans on the other hand have to get over their lacklustre batting display against the Capitals where they failed to chase down 130It was a day when the likes of inform Shubman Gill and David Miller failed and skipper Pandya who anchored the innings took the onus of the loss on himself as he failed to accelerate towards the endThe bowling however was on point against the Capitals Veteran Shami continues to make it look so easy with subtle movement of his fingers around the seam at the delivery He sizzled with the new ball and will look for an encoreThe spin department is led by the everreliable Rashid who has another Afghani Noor Ahmad to complement himTeams FromRajasthan Royals Jos Buttler Yashasvi Jaiswal Sanju Samson c amp wk Dhruv Jorel Riyan Parag Shimron Hetmyer R Ashwin Jason Holder Trent Boult Sandeep Sharma Yuzvendra Chahal Navdeep Saini M Ashwin K M Asif K C Cariappa Donovan Ferreira Devdutt Padikkal Obed McCoy Joe Root Kuldeep Sen Akash Vashist Kuldip Yadav Adam Zampa Abdul BasithGujarat Titans Hardik Pandya c Shubman Gill David Miller Abhinav Manohar Sai Sudharsan Wriddhiman Saha Matthew Wade Rashid Khan Rahul Tewatia Vijay Shankar Mohammed Shami Alzarri Joseph Yash Dayal Pradeep Sangwan Darshan Nalkande Jayant Yadav R Sai Kishore Noor Ahmad Dasun Shanaka Odean Smith KS Bharat Shivam Mavi Urvil Patel Joshua Little and Mohit SharmaMatch starts 730 ISTThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever