Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Capitals: Despite a rollicking start to the IPL campaign by skipper, Sanju Samson who became the first wicket-keeping batsman to smoke a century on his debut as a captain, lack of decent support from the other end, and a woeful display of bowling left the Royals scratching their heads.
Even before the tournament started, the Royals were rocked by a major blow as their primary fast bowler, Jofra Archer was sidelined for half of the fray with a nasty injury as he had to undergo the knife to remove a glass structure from a tendon in his hand after his attempt at cleaning his fish tank went south.
To aggravate matters for Royals, another key player of theirs, all-rounder Ben Stokes was ruled out of the tournament with a broken finger and now Royals will have to look up at their remaining squad to fill two gigantic boots if they would need any hopes of making it through to the play-offs.
Liam Livingstone can be a formidable complement to Jos Buttler for Rajasthan Royals
The first and foremost change that Royals will most likely go within the face of an absent Stokes will be another successful T20 cricketer, Liam Livingstone. The English all-rounder has so far shown a decent run of affairs off late, especially against India that saw him batting a good deal. Liam was also in sublime form in the BBL that saw him becoming a mainstay at Perth Scorchers.
His addition to the squad can provide the much-needed support to Jos Butler that the Englishman will be desperate to get in order to free his own arms. Excessive pressure on the big-hitting English keeper is costing him his scalp way too early that is leaving a gaping hole at the top of the Royals innings which even Samson’s blistering heroics can’t make up.
Andrew Tye can be an absolute scorcher if he gets going
Bangladeshi express bowler, Mustafizur Rahman couldn’t really live up to the expectations that were slapped on him and he ended up botching matters in the worst ways possible. However, it was no surprise that a man who has been out of international or domestic action for so long could have actually sparked much difference.
However, Royals have a match-winner in Andrew Tye who was an indispensable part of the Perth Scorchers squad, consistently eking out scalps and bowling at a fine economy rate of 7.5. Though Mustafizur has validated his worth in Bangladesh colours, bowling in the sub-continent won’t be a cakewalk for him, given the slow nature of the surfaces. He thrives on pace and the variety that he possesses isn’t extraordinary enough to hurt the opposition.
That is exactly where Tye comes into the picture with his outrageous mix of deliveries, occasional bursts of brutal pace along with those toe-crushing yorkers that can very well spark a 15-20 runs gap in the middle overs. He is also a subtle death-bowler which makes him a perfect substitute for Mustafizur.
