IPL 2022, RR vs RCB highlights: Karthik, Shahbaz lead RCB to four-wicket win

And Buttler takes the Orange Cap! He was tied with Ishan Kishan on 135 runs and he takes a single to get off the mark. Jaiswal is rapped on the pads first up and RCB go up with a half-hearted appeal. The youngster then takes a single to get off the mark himself. That's all the runs the batters get from that over so it's 2/0 after the 1st over. 

Jos Buttler walks out with Yashasvi Jaiswal for RR. He will be facing the first ball, which will be bowled by Mohammed Siraj.

Like Chahal, it is also a first for Padikkal as he faces the team that gave him his big break. As stated before, he has had one good game and one bad one so far for RR and it will be interesting to see what he does when he faces RCB. Interestingly, his only IPL century, a 52-ball 101 not out, came against RR and he outscored Kohli and Ab de Villiers in the last season. 

Faf du Plessis (captain), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj

Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson(wicketkeeper/captain), Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal

Both teams are unchanged. Glenn Maxwell is not eligible for RCB yet, remember. Samson says that it is a different surface altogether from what they have played so far this season.

Faf du Plessis and Sanju Samson are set to walk out with their team sheets in just a few minutes. 

Matthew Hayden says that while the Wankhede has been assisting the seamers this season “we are going to see slightly different conditions today. There is certainly less grass on it. It is very very hard, batsmen are in for a treat tonight.” 

It has to be noted that RCB have won their last four fixtures against RR and are in line to make it five in a row today. However, rarely have RR looked so far in front of RCB at this early stage of the season in recent years. 

This might just be the 1st time that Kohli will be facing Chahal in a competitive cricket match. Batting great Sunil Gavaskar says that he is looking forward to seeing what the celebrations will be like if Chahal or indeed, Ashwin, dismisses Kohli early on. "The thing that I am looking forward to watching, how Chahal bowls to Kohli. They have played against each other so often in the nets so Kohli will know all the wares Chahal has. If he can get through to Kohli, one, that will be a big thing for RR, that Kohli will be out early. Then, whether it be Chahal or Ashwin, after that I want to see what the celebrations will be like.

The franchise has put out a tweet showing the team bus reaching the Wankhede Stadium. The broadcasters are showing footage of the two teams warming up at the stadium. 

"It was good for my confidence to spend time in the middle [against Mumbai], put in a good performance early in the season, and that, hopefully, can give me the confidence to take into the rest of the season. Powerplays are always a time that you are trying to look to score. I think initially you are trying to understand the conditions, maybe in the first and second over, and then try and take advantage of the fielding restrictions."

The two teams have faced each other 24 times in the IPL and won 12 times each. While this on paper might denote a neck to neck rivalry, it isn't exactly the case. The two teams have faced each other 11 times since 2015 and RCB have lost just thrice. 

Dinesh Karthik was the man who got RCB over the line in their low scoring thriller against KKR. He remains RCB's principal wicketkeeper and today, he is one wicket away from becoming just the second wicketkeeper after MS Dhoni to be involved in 150 dismissals in the IPL. 

The last time RCB played a match, Du Plessis was wearing the Orange Cap. Since then, it has shifted hands multiple hands before eventually landing on Buttler's head after his century. Du Plessis is only about 40 runs behind Buttler though, which means that the Orange Cap could change heads once again today. 

Hetmyer has done exactly what is expected of him thus far. He smacked 32 off 13 balls in the first match, and then 35 off 14 in the second, both times providing RR a much needed boost in the death overs. 

It is pretty scary to think that despite being  restricted to 193 in their previous match, RR got to that total without two of their top order batters firing. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal are both precocious talents but both fell within the powerplay. While Padikkal did score 41 off just 29 balls in the first match of the season against SRH, Jaiswal scored 20 off 16. RR might break a few records if all their batters perform to their full potential. 

True to what is normally the case in any IPL season, Sanju Samson has hit the ground running. He scored a half century in RR's opening match and then scored 30 off 21 balls against MI in an 81-run stand with Buttler. But he has almost always tapered off after the first two games and it remains to be seen if the RR captain can reverse that trend. 

Virat Kohli is at that stage of his career where he would be breaking some record or the other almost every time he plays a match. He is now just one boundary away from becoming just the second player to hit 550 fours in the IPL. Shikhar Dhawan leads that list with 664 fours. 

There is a lot of love between Chahal and the RCB players and why not. The wristspinner spent eight years playing for the Bengaluru franchise and now has to plot their downfall, for this match at least. 

As many as seven of the first 10 matches have been won by the chasing side this season. However, it has to be noted that two of the three wins for teams batting first came at the Wankhede Stadium. Makes the toss itself an interesting prospect today.

RCB Director of Cricket Mike Hesson has said that Cricket Australia has made it clear that none of the contracted Australian players are allowed to play in the IPL before April 6, which is when Australia's tour of Pakistan ends with a standalone T20I. Maxwell had sat the tour out for his wedding and while he joined the RCB camp on April 1, he can play only after Wednesday, in accordance to CA's directive. "We have been well aware of that as every other side. We have planned for that. Maxi will be with us and available from the 9th," said Hesson.

RR's previous match went as perfectly as it could, with their top order scoring so many runs that even losing five wickets in the last two overs of the innings did not stop them from setting a target of 194. RCB, meanwhile, used up seven wickets to reach a score of 129. It has been a tale of extremes thus far for Faf du Plessis's side - they failed to defend a target of 206 in their first game of the season and then struggled to chase a lowly total in their next match. 

It's the battle of the 'Royals' as Rajasthan Royals face Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium. RR will be mighty please with how things have gone so far but the same cannot be said for RCB, despite the fact that they won their previous match. They may have been the first team to win the IPL but RR are not exactly used to seeing themselves at the top of the table too often and so they will be hoping that this run they are on continues for as long as possible. The match starts at 7.30pm, which means the toss will be at 7pm.