Rajasthan Royals captain Steve Smith desperately needs to find some form again, while Delhi Capitals pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada is having a rocking time…
In IPL 2020, when Rajasthan Royals captain Steve Smith began his batting campaign, it looked like the Aussie was back where he normally is — at the top. Smith found some really poor ways to get out as matches passed, not least this tendency to charge against ins wingers and be caught off the inside edge of a horizontal bat.
Delhi Capitals fast-bowling spearhead Kagiso Rabada has in contrast gone from strength to strength through the tournament. That’s why the contest between Smith and Rabada in Sharjah on Friday could be one of the make-or-break matches, especially for Royals.
Smith has scores of 69, 50, 3, 5 and 6 in the five matches played by RR so far, which says it all. The first two his side won, the rest went south. A total of 133 runs from five innings at an average of 26.60 is not good enough. While the strike rate is higher than Smith’s IPL career rate, the average is nearly 10 runs lower presently.
South African Rabada has really discovered himself in IPL 2020. He has snared as many as 12 wickets from five matches, at an average of 12.50 and an economy of 7.50. His strike rate is 10 till now. His IPL career has seen him play 23 matches for 43 wickets at an economy of 7.99. It doesn’t get much better than this.
So, Smith will have his task cut out when these two meet. But Sharjah is one ground where Smith could get a little reprieve, in terms of the size of the ground. That said, Rabada isn’t easy to get away to start with. So, this will be a fascinating face-off.
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