IPL Boundary Blackjack - Round 2, Match 6 - RR v MI

After a washed out match yesterday, I guess the first thing to check on is the weather forecast.

This match is being played in Guwahati, Assam i.e. nowhere near Rajasthan and in fact much closer to the Bengal area which, as we saw last night, has had a lot of rain recently.

The bad news is, there is rain around. The good news is, I think it's far less certain to impact the game tonight. Fingers crossed we can get enough overs in for a result or maybe the showers will miss altogether!

While we're on weather watch, the other factor to consider for this game is the potential for dew in the 2nd innings. This evening in Guwahati is set to be far cooler than at most venues that matches have been played at so far and as that air cools and the humidity rises dew can form on the pitch, quickening it up and making it tougher for bowlers to grip the ball. I'd expect that whoever wins the toss will bowl first.

With that washed out match yesterday, Rajasthan have the opportunity to go top of the table should they pull off a 3rd win in a row.

Their top order are all in form and playing well. I mentioned in the preview to their first game that Jurel's performances had gone a little under the radar last season but his match winning knock against GT from his new number 3 position certainly turned some heads.

Jaiswal now has the luxury of reigning it back in a little with the ultra aggressive Sooryavanshi alongside side him happy to go from ball 1. The middle order hasn't fired yet but if they keep getting decent platforms then it's only a matter of time.

With ball in hand, everything they touch is turning to gold!

Pick Nandre Burger for the first game and he blows away CSK. New signing Ravi Bisnoi delivers his best ever IPL figures in his 2nd match for the club. Select Deshpande for the match against GT and he seals victory with a high pressure last over. This captaincy job is easy!

Even the slightly odd decision of Riyan Parag to bowl himself for the 8th over of GT's reply paid dividends as he got the all important break through that saw his team take charge of the game.

As for Mumbai, they'll be disappointed with their all round performance against DC on Saturday afternoon, particularly after such an impressive win in their opening match.

The early wickets set them back and then just as you thought the rebuild job was done and they could explode in the 2nd half of the innings, they lost 2 more in quick succession.

Another concern for them was the ineffectiveness of their back-up bowlers. Having had DC in trouble early doors with Bumrah and Chahar, they simply weren't able to maintain the pressure via Thakur, Markande and Bosch who collectively bowled 49 balls for 100 runs, conceding 15 boundaries in the process. Not good enough in any game but particularly when defending 160.

Of course, MI were without their captain Hardik Pandya who is a key part of balancing their side. His absence was reportedly due to an illness rather than an injury and so MI will hope that he's recovered to take part in this match.

Based on what we saw here in the first game, you'd anticipate that this pitch should be one which the MI bowlers enjoy. There was pace and bounce and a little bit of movement as well.

Trent Boult was left out of the MI side on Saturday, potentially to allow Bosch to fill the all-rounder role vacated by Hardik. He, of course, knows this ground as well as anyone having played 3 games here for Rajasthan during which time he took 4 wickets, 3 of which came in the opening over of the match!

I don't think the pitch here was the minefield that CSK's batsmen made it look like but, after half a dozen IPL games at the Guwahati, we're still yet to see a match total of 50+ boundaries.

Unsurprisingly, with just 3 boundaries scored in yesterday's match, there is no change in the standings of IPL Boundary Blackjack Round 2.

This represents the penultimate game of the round and so a few players will have to hope for a record boundary haul in order to close the gap on the top 3.