Confident Delhi to fight against struggling Royals.

The Ashwin vs Buttler subplot will be recalled as Rajasthan Royals look to relaunch against high-flying Delhi Capitals.

The Delhi Capitals are flying high, with four wins in five games. Their duo of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje are seemingly in a healthy mini-battle to outdo each other on the pace stakes, while Marcus Stoinis is delivering on his promise. All of this has complemented their power-packed Indian line-up so well that they cannot fit Ajinkya Rahane in the XI even as we get towards the halfway mark of the competition, with the pitches beginning to slow down.

The Rajasthan Royals, meanwhile, have had to shuffle their players and deviate from their set templates because they have found it hard to adjust to conditions in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. So returning to Sharjah, where they have won both their matches, should help after three back-to-back losses that have left them in a delicate position. They are all too familiar with the mid-table jostle, of course, and need one complete performance to give their campaign a much-needed lift.

Jos Buttler's form will encourage them. If Sanju Samson and Steven Smith can find ways to get back among runs, the Royals can breathe easy.

And, not to forget, it's R Ashwin vs Jos Buttler Part 1 for the season too, with the Indian spinner having issued his "first and final warning" to batsmen straying out at the non-striker's end. That's one subplot to keep an eye on.

Team News and Predicted XI:

Rajasthan Royals:

RR can give Yashasvi Jaiswal another chance or can also start with Manan Vohra.Tom Currn has not been so effective so Miller can get a chance.

Predicted XI:

1 Yashasvi Jaiswal/Manan Vohra, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Sanju Samson, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Mahipal Lomror, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Tom Curran/David Miller, 8 Shreyas Gopal, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Kartik Tyagi, 11 Ankit Rajpoot

Delhi Capitals:

They do not need any change. However Ishant can come back for Harshel Patel.

Predicted XI:

 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Axar Patel, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Harshal Patel/Ishant Sharma, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Kagiso Rabada