Livingstone and Dhawan vs GT match
Rajasthan Royals will look to get their campaign back on track while an inconsistent Punjab Kings will be keen to register two consecutive wins as both the teams face off on Saturday.
Royals were once giving tough competition to Gujarat Titans for the top spot but the former champions have faced minor hiccups recently. They enter the ensuing fixture with back-to-back defeats, including trailing eighth-placed Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians.
Punjab Kings, on the other hand, will be more than confident after a morale-boosting eight-wicket loss to table-toppers GT. Mayank Agarwal-The led side will be eager to continue the winning momentum as they try to break out of a mid-table logjam an inch closer to sealing the playoff spot.
Rajasthan ranks third in the points table, and this is mostly due to the flamboyant joss butler, The Englishman is currently the league’s leading scorer with 588 runs. Against Mumbai, he fought a lone fight with the bat while he failed to capitalize on his debut against KKR. Rajasthan lost both the matches.
The other two players at the top – captain Sanju Samson and Devdutt Padikkal – are good in the patch and need to shoulder more responsibility, especially with the team’s fourth-place reshuffle.
If they go ahead with Shimron Hetmyar, the trio can sabotage any bowling attack. The winners of the inaugural edition also need to step up their game by batting first, coming up with a total of three out of four defeats for Rajasthan.
The Royals have one of the best, if not the best, bowling attacks this season, but the bowlers failed to defend 158 and 152 in their last two matches.
He certainly has the chops to defend below-par totals. Yuzvendra Chahali Tops the bowling charts this season with 19 wickets, while Trent BoultKuldeep Sen and famous Krishna have also done well.
So it will be a long task for the Punjab batsmen to deal with the bowling of the Royals.
Punjab’s batting unit is grappling with inconsistencies. choice of Shikhar DhawanLiam Livingstone and Bhanuka Rajapakse, who have been the team’s best batsmen, can tonk the ball but they need to fire together to build a huge total or defend.
Jonny Bairstow He has failed to play the explosive innings he is known for, while skipper Mayank Agarwal has also not seen the color and will be eager to come back between the runs.
The bowling attack was right on the money in the win against the Titans, narrowing them down to 150.
After a relatively heavy season by his standards, the South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada Four wickets each in the last two matches.
Punjab has a strong and varied bowling attack. Arshdeep Singh has also done well this season, and although the 23-year-old hasn’t picked up many wickets, he has bowled financially.
Punjab Kings
Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar, Shah Rukh Khan, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone, Odeon Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Rittik Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taede, Bhanuka Rajapakse, Benny Howell.
Rajasthan Royals
Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron HetmyerDevdutt Padikkal, Famous Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-NileRassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell.