When Navdeep Saini was sent in to bowl the Super Over against Mumbai Indians, taking on the eternal threat of Rohit Sharma and the rampaging Kieron Pollard, several eyebrows were raised. But the youngster was brilliantly accurate with his yorkers and restricted MI to just seven runs, also dismissing Pollard, making the task easy for the RCB batsmen. He will be on top of his form and confidence, and when Rajasthan Royals' Jos Buttler dons his pads, the battle will be fascinating. Buttler has the potential to demolish any bowling, so another gripping face-off is on the cards.
Saini has become Virat Kohli's go-to man in a crisis, mostly since he has been fast and accurate. In three matches, Saini surprisingly has just two wickets, but has improved in leaps and bounds and certainly be a challenge for the Rajasthan batsmen, especially the openers.
Overall, the Delhi fast bowler has played 16 matches for 13 wickets at an economy of 8.36.
Buttler has seen little action in IPL 2020- he has scored 25 runs in two matches with a strike rate of 108.69 but it would be extremely foolish to write him off at any time.
Overall, he has played 47 matches for 1411 runs at a strike rate of 149.78.
The Englishman will be keen to show his worth to Rajasthan Royals, so his contest with Saini on Saturday will be something to look forward to.
Note: All stats courtesy iplt20.com