Rajasthan Royals will look to type out their batting woes and produce their marketing campaign again on monitor, whereas an inconsistent Punjab Kings might be keen to maintain the profitable momentum going of their IPL recreation on Saturday.
The Royals have been at one level giving Gujarat Titans a powerful struggle for the highest place however the former champions have just lately confronted minor hiccups. They enter the upcoming fixture with back-to-back losses together with to eighth-place Kolkata Knight Riders and laggards Mumbai Indians.
Punjab Kings, then again, might be excessive on confidence after inflicting a morale-boosting eight-wicket defeat on desk toppers GT. The Mayank Agarwal-led facet might be keen to maintain the profitable momentum going as they attempt to get out of the mid desk logjam an inch nearer to sealing a playoff spot.
Rajasthan are third on the factors desk, and it’s largely due to the flamboyant Jos Buttler. The Englishman is presently the league’s main scorer with 588 runs. Against Mumbai he waged a lone battle with the bat whereas he did not capitalise on his begin towards KKR. Rajasthan misplaced each video games.
The two different males on the high — skipper Sanju Samson and Devdutt Padikkal — have been good in patches and must shoulder extra accountability, particularly with the group shuffling the quantity 4 spot. If they get going alongside the big-hitting Shimron Hetymar, the trio can tear aside any bowling assault.
The inaugural version winners additionally must step up their recreation whereas batting first, three of Rajasthan’s 4 losses have come whereas setting a complete. The Royals have top-of-the-line, if not the very best, bowling assaults this season however the bowlers did not defend 158 and 152 of their earlier two video games.
They undoubtedly have the chops to defend below-par totals. Yuzvendra Chahal leads the bowling charts this season with 19 wickets, whereas the likes of Trent Boult, Kuldeep Sen and Prasidh Krishna have additionally carried out properly. It will due to this fact be a tall activity for the Punjab batters to sort out the Royals bowling.
The Punjab bating unit has been suffering from inconsistencies. The likes of Shikhar Dhawan, who has been the facet’s finest batter, Liam Livinstone and Bhanuka Rajapaksa can tonk the ball, however they should hearth in unison to construct or defend an enormous complete.
Jonny Bairstow has did not play the explosive innings he’s recognized for, whereas skipper Mayank Agarwal has additionally seemed off color and might be desperate to be again amongst runs. The bowling assault was proper on the cash within the win towards Titans, limiting them to beneath 150.
After a comparatively underwhelming season by his requirements, tempo spearhead South African Kagiso Rabada has been on a roll, snapping 4 wickets apiece within the earlier two video games. Punjab have a powerful and diversified bowling assault. Arshadeep Singh has additionally been good this season, and though the 23-year-old hasn’t picked too many wickets, he has bowled economically.
Squads:
Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar, Shahrukh Khan, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone, Odean Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Benny Howell.
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell.
Match begins 3.30 IST.