Rajasthan Royals vs Gujarat Titans - IPL 2022 Match 24: Who Will Win?

Rajasthan Royals Team Preview

The Rajasthan Royals will certainly be pleased with their campaign so far. They have a current Net Run Rate of +0.951, which is just double that of the Kolkata Knight Riders in second place with a NRR of +0.446. In a thrilling match, the Royals denied the Lucknow Super Giants a fourth win in a row in what turned out to be a wildly exciting and total nail biting end to the match. The Royals snuck to victory by just three runs with a final score of 165/6. The Royals also join a handful of teams to successfully defend their batting score.

The batting was below-par for the Wankhede pitch, and one that the Super Giants would have felt fairly confident to chase down. Despite Jos Buttler’s fantastic statistics for this IPL season, he was bowled after just 11 balls, scoring 13 runs. Buttler still holds the number one spot for most runs (218) and his batting average at 72.66 across all his games in the season so far puts him in fourth place. His record number of 6’s (15) gives him the top spot for now. Devdutt Padikkal went run-for-run and departed at 64/3. Shimron Hetmyer was a key player for the Royals adding the bulk of the runs to their score. From 36 balls he scored 59 runs, which gave him a strike rake of 163.89 for the match. In the tournament so far, Hetmyer has scored 168 runs, putting him in fifth place for most runs. His batting average of 84.00 and 14 x 6’s is worthy for the second spot in both categories.

We saw some first-class bowling from the Royals with Trent Boult removed two powerhouse batters for ducks (KL Rahul and Krishnappa Gowtham). This is the second time Rahul was out for a duck and this was a dream start for the Royals. Yuzvendra Chahal took four wickets which puts him at number 1 for most taken in the tournament to date (11). His stellar performance won him the Man of the Match award. Debutant Kuldeep Sen showed a strong performance in the last over and put the Royals back on track after Prasidh Krishna conceded 19 runs in the 18th over.

There are many interesting markets to bet on at the leading IPL betting sites, however we will share our opinions for the most common markets - the top batsman and top bowler. Although Buttler didn’t show such a strong performance in this last match, his track record is certainly strong and could bounce back when facing the Titans. Our IPL prediction for the bowlers would have to be Chahal.

Gujarat Titans Team Preview

The Gujarat Titans were riding high with an incredible start to their IPL 2022 campaign. Although a loss would be inevitable at some point in the tournament, it must still sting for it to become a reality. Their clean streak was finally broken, and the Sunrisers Hyderabad were the team to deliver their first loss.

The Titans were invited to bat first, and they managed to reach a final score of 162/7. After the match, skipper Hardik Pandya stated that an extra 10 runs could have given them more safety. Pandya reached half a century (not out) and also added the most runs to their total. Matthew Wade and Shubman Gill didn’t get the Titans off to a great start. Wade went run-for-run before an LBW by Umran Malik on his 19th ball, whereas Gill was taken by Bhuvneshwar Kumar after scoring seven runs on just nine balls. Gill still holds a few top positions for his batting statistics in the season so far - his 187 runs puts him in 3rd place for most runs, and his scores of 96 and 84 is enough for spot two and four for highest scores. Gill has also scored two 50’s and 18x 4’s. Abhinav Manohar moved along the middle order well scoring 35 runs from 21 balls.

For the bowlers, Pandya delivered a fairly strong performance managing to take a wicket and concede 27 runs during his four overs. He was the most economical bowler for the Titans. Rashid Khan was the other player to take a wicket and conceded 28 runs, again in four overs. Many IPL betting sites are tipping Khan to be the top bowler, however Lockie Ferguson could also be a good choice for this market.

Toss Prediction

We are still waiting for a captain to elect to bat first in the 2022 IPL. In all the previous 23 matches, every single captain to have won the toss has forced their opponents to defend their batting score. With the dew being a huge factor, our toss prediction is the same as before. We think the captain will choose to bat second to be able to use the dew to their advantage and to minimise the length of time their bowlers are exposed to the dew.

Pitch Conditions

This is the third match in four days to be played at the Dr DY Patil Stadium which is around 50kms outside of Mumbai’s centre. The red-soil pitch is showing a few signs of natural wear and tear. Kane Williamson made a recent comment highlighting that the wicket wasn’t the easiest to bat on. On Thursday, the weather will be a warm 32 degrees with a real-feel temperature of 43 degrees. As the evening progresses, the humidity will increase from 73% at the start of the match to around 80% by the end. We can expect dew to settle throughout the evening, which can cause problems with the bowlers’ grip.

Now, it’s time for a few statistics. The average first innings score at this stadium is 166.3 for the 2022 season. As we have seen with the toss trend, the chasing team has won 66.7% of the time. The average Powerplay score is 44.3, while the average death overs is 48.7.