RCB vs RR, IPL 2025: 'Very Good Cricket Wicket' - Rahul Dravid Expects High-Scoring Game in Bengaluru

Rajasthan Royals (RR) head coach Rahul Dravid expects a high-scoring contest against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL 2025 match 42 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday (April 24).

The three previous games at the venue in Bengaluru has seen wickets that have been challenging for batters to score freely with the home side misreading the wicket and losing three in three in their own backyard.

The Bengaluru pitch has been challenging so far for batters during the first innings, with RCB's first innings so far being 169 for 8, 163 for 7, and 95 for 9 in a 14-over game. Though the bowlers put up a fine fight, RCB lost all their games at home.

On his return to familiar territory, Dravid, however, believes the wicket prepared for the RCB vs RR clash seems a very good one although the pitch has been under covers for a long period of time.

"I mean, you just have to go for it irrespective and that is a given. But I think every surface will be different. I think the last one, just having a chat with the groundsman, it was under covers for a really long period of time, so it was probably not a good one to judge it on," Dravid said at pre-match press conference when asked about the best approach on such wickets.

"The wicket I am seeing here, from at least what I can make of it, looks a really good wicket, so I cannot really say how those wickets looked in earlier games. But the track that is been produced for this one looks actually to be a very good cricket wicket and I think it should be a pretty high-scoring game."

Apart from RCB's struggles at home, others also have failed to make their home venue a fortress as teams have misread the wicket on most ocassion with only the Gujarat Titans (GT), Delhi Capitals (DC) and Mumbai Indians (MI) winning more at home than losing.

Dravid believes there is no home advantage at least in this IPL as the RR head coach feels several new players in the squads after the mega auction will make it difficult for any team to make their home ground a fortress.

"I am not really sure what specific franchises might have wanted from their curators or from their pitches. But yeah, I think home advantage, generally, the teams are new as well, right? It is the first year of a big auction cycle, so for a lot of the players, even though they may be your home players, they are playing for those teams or those grounds for the first time."

"For example, at RCB, someone like Phil Salt was at KKR and he is coming here for the first time. Someone like Nitish Rana who was not with us and he is playing for us this year, so for him, Jaipur is actually kind of a new ground in some ways."

"So maybe sometimes, I think that when you just have a big auction and there is a change of squad and a change of team, the home advantage may not be that significant. But maybe as you go later on into the cycle, maybe you might start seeing their significance a little bit more because then your players get to practice and play a little bit more on that compared to the opposition team," he concluded.