Rajasthan Royals are upbeat to take on Mumbai Indians in Qualifier-2 of the IPL at Eden Gardens. It would be interesting to see Shane Watson go after Mitchell Johnson while a lot will depend on how in-form Rahul Dravid and Stuart Binny negotiate the dangerous spin-twins of Mumbai Indians in Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha. It’s going to be a great test of captaincy for Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma, who has been underachiever in away games.

Here we bring to you the players to watch out from the match between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians.

Rajasthan Royals

Shane Watson: Watson is going to play a crucial role in this mail-biting affair because his all-round dexterity will come in more than handy in this match. He has been bowling with good rhythm and has also been getting good starts quite frequently. He is going to be impact player for RR in this qualifier.

Rahul Dravid: Dravid has led Rajasthan brilliantly in this edition of IPL. However, he needs to have a stable middle-order and rest of the thing will fall in place for his talented unit.

Stuart Binny: Binny has been decent with the ball and would be looking to make his mark in the most crucial match of the season. He can make a world of difference with his variations in bowling at Eden Gardens as surface will surely assist him.

Sanju Samson: Samson has been bit inconsistent in past few matches but there is hardly any doubt that this lad has a potential of playing some match winning innings under some serious pressure.

Siddharth Trivedi: Trivedi was brilliant in the last match and if he keeps on his good form in this match then the likes of Rohit Sharma and Dwayne Smith will be having a tough time batting against him.

Mumbai Indians

Harbhajan Singh: Harbhajan has bowled some brilliant spells in this edition of IPL but has not been effective in away games. Wicket at Eden Gardens will give him an edge as it has always been his happy-hunting ground. He can surely turn the tables single-handedly.

Pragyan Ojha: Ojha has always bagged the big wickets throughout this IPL and it’s going to be a great challenge for him to bowl against the likes of Stuart Binny and Shane Watson.

Dwayne Smith: Smith was sensational in the last match and the way he was sending the ball out of the park was a very good sign for MI. He would be looking to give another explosive start in this do or die game.

Rohit Sharma: Sharma has not been as consistent with the bat in latter half of the tournament. His captaincy will be under litmus test as he has not been making impressive bowling changes and it would be interesting to see how he will march his troops against RR.

Mitchell Johnson: Johnson would be looking to make the most of the conditions at Eden Gardens. He has that potential to keep nagging the batsmen with his short ball and it’s going to be a battle within a battle when he bowl against the likes of Shane Watson and Brad Hodge.

 

By Amit Chopra