Rajasthan Royals would look to turn things around against Kings XI Punjab when they play in Jaipur. (Source: PTI)
Sitting at the bottom of the IPL table, Rajasthan Royals need a miracle if they want to play the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs. And that road to a desperate push late in the round robins begins at home when Kings XI Punjab visit on Tuesday. The equation stands pretty straightforward for RR, they need a win to stay alive while a defeat would be curtains to their playoff hopes. Even if they win all, they might be resigned to the outcome of the other teams as well.
With three consecutive defeats for the Ajinkya Rahane-captained side – against Hyderabad, Delhi and Punjab – they need to turn things around in all departments. Royals could take heart from the fact that they faced Punjab on Sunday and will be able to strategise accordingly. But this Kings XI Punjab looks in good touch with both batsmen and bowlers working well together. In the reverse game in Indore, Punjab won by 6 wickets with seven balls to spare.
Nothing has gone right for Rajasthan who started the season with a blow to their squad when Steve Smith was barred from playing owing to the ball-tampering scandal. On the pitch, with the results not going their way, RR have worn a dejected look in recent encounters and none more than in the narrow defeat to Delhi in a rain-affected contest.
Among the batting prospects, Rahane has had an average season while Ben Stokes and Rahul Tripathi haven’t fired all cylinders. With the ball, big money signing Jaydev Unadkat has been a let-down with just seven wickets at an economy rate of 9.86. The only positive has been Jofra Archer who has bowled effectively and shown off why he’s a hot property among West Indies and England cricket boards.
On the other side of the fence, Kings are back to winning ways after losing two straight matches. They would look to solidify their place in the top-four by doing a repeat away from home. A convincing win and KXIP could even propel themselves to second in the IPL standings.
Even as KXIP rely on good partnership between Chris Gayle and KL Rahul at the top, likes of Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair and Marcus Stoinis have also been able to make a difference. Agarwal has 118 runs, Nair has 240 runs while Stoinis has scored 85 runs in four innings while also picking up a wicket.
Their bowling too has the variety with captain R Ashwin, spinner Axar Patel and the new sensation from Afghanistan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, proving more than handful for the opponent.
Teams (from)
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Ben Stokes, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Rahul Tripathi, D Arcy Short, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Sudhesan Midhun, Ben Laughlin, Mahipal Lomror, Aryaman Birla, Jatin Saxena, Dushmantha Chameera, Heinrich Klaasen, Ish Sodhi.
Kings XI Punjab: Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Axar Patel, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, David Miller, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Rajpoot, Manoj Tiwary, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Barinder Sran, Andrew Tye, Akshdeep Nath, Ben Dwarshuis, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar, Manzoor Dar.