The table toppers Rajasthan Royals play host to Mumbai Indians at the Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium in Jaipur, Rajasthan on Monday. The visitors have won five out of the last eight matches against today’s opponents and will fancy themselves against an in-form Royals side. We’ve prepared our best bets for Match 38 of IPL 2024.
Venue: Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium
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Rajasthan recently pulled off a record IPL chase, led by Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 107 on the final ball against KKR. Despite mixed performances in 2024, Buttler’s impressive record against Mumbai of 498 runs at an average of 62.25 suggests he might excel again. His captain, Sanju Samson, has also been in good form, hitting three half-centuries in five home matches this season.
Rajasthan boasts 44 wickets this season with an economy rate of 8.74, comfortably below the league average of 9.50 RPO. However, Trent Boult is their only bowler among the top fifteen wicket-takers in head-to-head matches. Boult’s record against Mumbai’s key batsmen, including Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma, indicates he could play a crucial role in the powerplay.
Meanwhile, Mumbai’s Jasprit Bumrah is the leading wicket-taker in head-to-head encounters with 17 wickets, including a season-best of 5/21. He’s taken nearly a third of Mumbai’s 43 wickets this season and has been particularly effective against Rajasthan’s Shimron Hetmyer.
On the batting front, Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma has struggled against Rajasthan’s bowlers, averaging only 22. In contrast, Tilak Varma has thrived, averaging 62.5 against the same unit and maintaining a season average of 41.60 with a strike rate of 154.07, suggesting he could be key for Mumbai in this matchup.
A superior bowling attack, in-form batters, and an excellent record at home will give RR a lot of confidence against MI. Surprisingly, they come into this game as the underdogs, so there’s a lot of value in backing them to win.
Key battle: Rajasthan spinner Yuzvendra Chahal could hold the key to this matchup. He has a best of 3/11 against Mumbai and has a tally of 12 wickets thus far this season. He also has some handy numbers against Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya (who averages 55 against Rajasthan), having claimed 4-63 from 68 balls against the batting allrounder.
Key Stats
Jasprit Bumrah has head-to-head figures of 4/65 from 75 balls against Jos Buttler.
Contrastingly, Buttler has smashed 2/113 from 66 balls faced against Hardik Pandya.
Suryakumar Yadav has never been dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin, scoring 115 runs from 79 deliveries.
Avesh Khan has 2/17 from 27 balls against Hardik Pandya.
Mumbai recorded the highest powerplay score in each of their last four matches.
Rajasthan have struck the most sixes in only two of their last five matches.
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