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Rajasthan Royals (RR) will hope to continue their IPL 2024 juggernaut at home against Gujarat Titans (GT) on Wednesday, April 10. The Royals remain the only unbeaten team this season with four wins from four games so far.
GT, on the other hand, have had a pretty inconsistent start to their campaign, winning just two out of their first five games. Shubman Gill and company faced a heartbreaking defeat in their previous game against Punjab Kings and will need to be at their best to beat a rampant RR side.
On that note, let's take a look at the three match-ups that could play a crucial role in deciding the result of the game:
#3 Sanju Samson vs Noor Ahmad
Ever since Noor Ahmad has returned to GT's bowling line-up, they have looked a lot more threatening as a unit. The way Noor partners with compatriot Rashid Khan has been a major factor behind GT's success.
However, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson has a decent record against Rashid and thus Noor will need to step up when is up against the right-handed batter.
Samson has faced just four deliveries from Noor to date in which he has scored 11 runs. However, the left-arm wrist-spinner has also dismissed the RR captain once. This is a pretty evenly matched face-off with a tiny sample space and could go either way.
#2 Shubman Gill vs Trent Boult
GT skipper Shubman Gill looks to have finally found good form again as he scored a fine 89* against PBKS, albeit in a losing cause.
He will be one of the big wickets for the Royals and they will hope that Trent Boult with the new ball would do a massive favor by getting rid of the opposition skipper early.
Boult has bowled 55 deliveries to Gill in the IPL and has conceded just 57 runs, dismissing the youngster once. While the left-arm pacer seems to have the edge, Gill's scintillating strokeplay can nullify the bowler's advantage.
#1 Jos Buttler vs Rashid Khan
Jos Buttler finally shrugged off his poor form with a sensational hundred against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in his previous game and can put a string of big scores together. He is possibly the biggest threat to GT's bowling and the visitors certainly have a weapon to counter.
Rashid Khan has enjoyed a great match-up against Jos Buttler in T20 cricket. In 72 balls, Buttler has scored just 50 runs against Rashid and has already been dismissed four times.
Gill could be tempted to bring Rashid in the powerplay phase to exploit the positive match-up and it will be interesting to see how Buttler counters it.
