Rajasthan host Gujarat at Sawai Mansingh as the top-four race tightens to a sliver of net run rate
Rajasthan Royals host Gujarat Titans at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Saturday night in a match the points table has stacked almost on top of itself. Both sides have six wins, four defeats, and 12 points from ten games. Only net run rate separates them, and even that gap is slim: the Royals sit fourth on a positive 0.510, the Titans fifth on a negative 0.147.
A contrasting form line into Jaipur
The teams arrive moving in opposite directions. Gujarat have won three on the bounce. Rajasthan have lost three of their last five, with their bowling group leaking more runs than it did earlier in the tournament. The Royals defended 210 in their first meeting with Gujarat. On a Sawai Mansingh surface that has tended to favour chases, the template may not be there to lean on tonight.
A rematch with weight
Rajasthan won that first meeting at the Narendra Modi Stadium on April 4 by six runs, riding Ravi Bishnoi's 4 for 41 and a tight 20th over from Tushar Deshpande. Bishnoi's spell took apart a chase that had looked under control for Gujarat. Sai Sudharsan's 73 off 44 at the top fell short. Three wins later, the Titans arrive in Jaipur looking tighter than the side Rajasthan beat in early April: bowling group settling, middle overs paying off with the bat.
Pink Promise night at Sawai Mansingh
Saturday is also the franchise's annual Pink Promise fixture. The Royals will play in their pink jersey, and for every six hit during the match, six homes will be electrified with solar power through the Royal Rajasthan Foundation. The initiative is now in its third year. It powered 260 homes in 2024, 520 last year. A long evening of clean hitting tonight pushes the number higher again.
What the table will say in the morning
A win takes the winner to 14 points, level with leaders Sunrisers Hyderabad, with three league games still to play. The team that loses stays on 12 and slips behind whoever picks up points from the rest of the week's fixtures. Net run rate stops being a cushion at this stage and starts being a margin. With Chennai Super Kings on 10 just below and Kolkata Knight Riders back to 9 after Finn Allen's 47-ball century at the Jaitley, every result from here onwards is closer to a ladder than a step.
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