Yashasvi Jaiswal would be desperate to let his bat do the talking when an unbeaten Rajasthan Royals take on an under pressure Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League here on Wednesday.
RR could not have asked for a better start to the season, registering four consecutive wins from as many games.
But Jaiswal, who has been terrific for the national team of late, has tallied just 39 runs in four games.
If he is back amongst the runs, it will be icing on the cake for RR as his opening partner Jos Buttler returned to form with an unbeaten century against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Sanju Samson has been leading RR from the front, scoring 178 runs from four games including two fifties.
But it is Riyan Parag's performance with the bat that has been a revelation for RR. The all-rounder from Guwahati is the third highest run-getter in the tournament so far with 185 runs, including two unbeaten half-centuries.
The likes of Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel also needs to contribute more in the middle-order.
Rajasthan also boast of potent bowling attack in the form of pacers Trent Boult and Nandre Burger, and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who has been their stand-out performer with eight wickets, the second highest so far.
But Ravichandran Ashwin's patchy form is a surprise. He has taken just one wicket from four matches while giving away eight runs per over.
GT, on the other hand, witnessed a mixed bag campaign so far with two wins and and three loses out of five games.
The Shubman Gill-led side would look to avoid a hat-trick of losses on Wednesday but it would be easier said than done against an opponent on rampage. They would be looking to bounce from back after a 'poor' effort with the bat against Lucknow Super Giants.
Gill, personally, have had a decent outing with the bat so far, scoring 183 runs from five games with a strike rate close to 147.
His opening partner B Sai Sudharsan too has been among runs but is yet to register a fifty in the tournament.
He replaced Wriddhiman Saha at the top in the previous and is expected to bat alongside Gill also on Wednesday.
Veterans Mohit Sharma and Umesh Yadav have been the stand-out performers with the ball for GT but they fell flat in front of little-known Punjab Kings cricketers Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma in a thrilling tie.
The Afghan trio of Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad also need to raise their game.
Teams (from):
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Keshav Maharaj, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger.
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), David Miller, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Robin Minz, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Mandhar, B Sai Sudarshan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Azmatullah Omarzai, Shahrukh Khan, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Kartik Tyagi, Shshant Mishra, Spencer Johnson, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Umesh Yadav, Rashid Khan, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma and Manav Suthar.
