IPL 2020, Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals: Preview, stats and players to watch out for

Steve Smith's Rajasthan Royals take on Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. It will be the first double-header in the IPL 2020.

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Rajasthan Royals started their campaign at a high after beating Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab in a high scoring thriller. However, their recent loss to Sunrisers saw them slip to the fifth spot in the points table. Steve Smith will be trying and hoping to get back to winning ways. With the news of Ben Stokes' arrival, the Rajasthan will be overjoyed, but the star all-rounder will still be a missing couple of matches.

Royal Challengers on the other hand have had some tipsy matches. They too started their campaign with a win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, but soon lost the momentum as they faced a massive 97 runs loss to Kings XI Punjab. However, their nail-biting super over finish against Mumbai brought them back to the winning ways. Royal Challengers will be looking forward to keeping up the momentum. They are currently sixth in the IPL 2020 points table.

The match is to be played in Abu Dhabi, none of the teams have played a match here before. But the similarities to the Dubai stadium might provide a minor edge to the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Dew in the afternoon clash is not to be expected.

RCB's Navdeep Saini had a heroic super over spell against the Mumbai Indians, he is sure to work well against the Royals too.

Jofra Archer for Royals has been efficient with both the bat and the ball. His seam will be troubling the likes of Virat Kohli, Finch and ABD.

AB de Villiers has been in form for the Royal Challengers and has come to save the day in every match. He, along with Shivam Dube is expected to smash the balls across the fence tonight.

Sanju Samson and Steve Smith have been crucial for the Royals. These batsmen will be looking to pose or even chase down a score above 170 on this ground.

RCB skipper Virat Kohli has hit a rough patch in this year's Indian Premier League. But this could be the match where 'King Kohli' finds his form.

Probable XI

Royal Challengers Bangalore:Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Shivam Dube, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Isuru Udana, Washington Sundar, Adam Zampa, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal

Rajasthan Royals:Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler (wk), Sanju Samson, Steve Smith (c), Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Tom Curran, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot, Jaydev Unadkat

Head-to-head stats:

The two teams have faced each other 20 times in the IPL so far, and RR holds a 10-8 head-to-head win/loss record over RCB, with two games washed out.