Rajasthan Royals, who have won their last two games, will look for another victory against RCB and keep their hopes alive of making it to the IPL play-offs.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to give their forgettable campaign a semblance of respectability and dash Rajasthan Royals' faint play-offs hopes in the IPL match, in Bengaluru, on Tuesday.
Rajasthan, with 10 points from 12 games, still have a theoretical chance to make it to the play-offs, provided they do not lose any of their remaining two matches.
Also, they would require table-toppers Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals to defeat their respective opponents.
Under the circumstances, Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes' absence will add to Rajasthan's pressure, more so when Archer's 12-ball 27 for a winning cause against Kolkata Knight Riders is taken into account.
Jos Buttler, who had 311 runs and three fifties in eight innings, has also returned to England for World Cup preparations.
The change in captaincy -- replacing Ajnkya Rahane with Steve Smith -- has helped RR to an extent. Following the change, Rahane roared back to form with an elegant century, albeit in a losing cause, against Delhi Capitals.
It also saw Rajasthan bring their campaign back on track by beating Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders.
RR's last win at the Eden Gardens could galvanise their players to believe in themselves, after Ryan Parag led a dramatic late comeback.
They, however, still need to iron out a few flaws which have plagued them off late. The failure to grab moments, which cost them the games against Kings XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings, is one of them.
The biggest positive for Rajasthan has been leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal, who claimed the big scalps of Virat Kohli, A B de Villiers and Shimron Hetmyer in their previous clash.
Fast bowlers Varun Aaron and Oshane Thomas have also done well with the ball in the last two games.
Sanju Samson, who had hit the first ton of this IPL, also played a good knock with the bat against KKR, but will need to work on his consistency.
Hosts RCB will be playing for pride after their slender hopes of entering the play-offs went up in smoke with their defeat to Delhi Capitals.
Teams:
Rajasthan Royals: Steve Smith (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, Shubham Ranjane, Ashton Turner, Stuart Binny, Shreyas Gopal, Sudhesan Midhun, Jaydev Unadkat, Ish Sodhi, Prashant Chopra, Mahipal Lomror, Oshane Thomas, Aryaman Birla, Riyan Parag, Dhawal Kulkarni, Krishnappa Gowtham, Liam Livingstone, Varun Aaron, Shahshank Singh, Manan Vohra, Rahul Tripathi.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), Parthiv Patel, AB de Villiers, Colin de Grandhomme, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Moeen Ali, Shimron Hetmyer, Dale Steyn, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Devdutt Padikkal, Himmat Singh, Milind Kumar, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Heinrich Klaasen, Pawan Negi, Washington Sundar, Akshdeep Nath, Prayas Ray Barman, Kulwant Khejroliya, Tim Southee.
Match starts at 8 pm IST.
