Live cricket score, Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab, IPL 2018: Jos Buttler nears ton, RR eye big score

Desperate to stay alive in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018, bottom-placed Rajasthan Royals (RR) will be aiming to avenge Sunday’s six-wicket loss to Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), when the two sides face off at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, tonight. The Ajinkya Rahane-led Royals succumbed to their third loss in a row, after being hammered by Punjab at the Holkar Stadium in Indore and now need to win all their remaining five matches to stay in race for the playoffs. KXIP, on the other hand, are placed third with 12 points from nine games and a win tonight will take them a step closer to the playoffs. Rajasthan Royals have won the toss and have opted to bat. Get live cricket score of Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab, IPL 2018 match here (LIVE SCORECARD | LIVE STREAMING INFO)

21:02 hrs IST: Single off the last ball for Samson, moves into 20s. Rajasthan Royals are 115/2 after 14 overs. Second strategic time-out.

21:00 hrs IST: SIX! Carrom ball from Ashwin, Samson goes back and creams it straight down the ground for a maximum. As good as it gets!

20:56 hrs IST: Buttler hasn’t found the going tough against Ashwin. Rajasthan Royals in desperate need of big hits. They are 96/2 after 12 overs.

20:51 hrs IST: Nine runs off Axar’s third. Rajasthan Royals are 91/2 after 11 overs. Buttler 67*, Samson 6*

20:47 hrs IST: Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane will captain India in Virat Kohli’s absence for the one-off Test against Afghanistan in June.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday named a 15-member squad for Afghanistan historic Test, to be played at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore from June 14-18.

20:44 hrs IST: Magnificent over from Axar, just a run off it. Rajasthan Royals are 73/2 after 9 overs. Buttler 52*, Samson 3*.

20:41 hrs IST: Single and that’s fifty for Buttler, third in a row while opening the innings. Clearly, RR made a mistake by not promoting him in the initial matches. Should look to get a hundred here.

20:38 hrs IST: Tidy over from Stoinis, just four runs and a wicket. Rajasthan Royals are 67/2 after 7 overs. Ashwin comes into the attack.

20:36 hrs IST: OUT! Full delivery from Stoinis, outside off, Gowtham looks to clear long-on but doesn’t get the timing and Manoj Tiwary takes a neat catch. Sanju Samson comes to the crease.

20:30 hrs IST: Costly over from Tye, 11 runs off it. Rajasthan Royals are 63/1 after 6 overs.Buttler 45*, Gowtham 8*. Strategic time-out.

20:25 hrs IST: SIX! Pitched up from Mohit and Gowtham smacks it straight over the bowler’s head for a maximum. Rajasthan Royals are 52/1 after 5 overs. Tye to continue.

20:20 hrs IST: K Gowtham comes to the crease. Surprised with his promotion. Samson did very well to stay at three. Rajasthan Royals are 38/1 after 4 overs. Mohit Sharma again.

20:17 hrs IST: OUT! Knuckle ball from Tye, Rahane looks to work it towards leg but gets a leading edge and Akshdeep Nath does the rest at extra cover.

20:14 hrs IST: Poor start for Kings XI Punjab. The visitors in desperate need of wickets. Rajasthan Royals are 35/0 after 3 overs. Andrew Tye comes into the attack.

20:12 hrs IST: FOUR! This is the Rahane everybody knows. Delicate! Length delivery, the RR skipper uses the pace and times well in the gap between short third-man and backward point.

20:10 hrs IST: FOUR! Short ball from Mohit and Buttler pulls it to deep mid-wicket boundary. Just the kind of start Royals would have wanted.

20:08 hrs IST: Single off the last ball for Buttler. Moves to 22 off just nine deliveries. Rajasthan Royals are 25/0 after 2 overs. Mohit Sharma comes into the attack.

20:06 hrs IST: SIX! Flighted delivery from Axar, Buttler comes forward and lifts it over cover for a maximum.

20:04 hrs IST: Dot ball to finish off from Stoinis. Expensive start from him. Rajasthan Royals are 11/0 after the first over. Axar Patel comes into the attack.

20:03 hrs IST: CONSECUTIVE BOUNDARIES! The Englishman is in top form. While the first one was hit behind square, the second delivery was punched straight past the bowler.

20:01 hrs IST: Another outswinger from Stoinis and Buttler slices it to the wide third-man region for a double.

20:00 hrs IST: Straightaway some shape for the Australia. Outswinger, Rahane gets forward and works it to third-man for a single.

19:59 hrs IST: Timefor live action. Buttler and Rahane make their way out in the middle and so do the KXIP players. Marcus Stoinis to start the proceedings.

19:39 hrs IST: Teams -

Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler(wk), Ajinkya Rahane(c), Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Stuart Binny, Mahipal Lomror, Jofra Archer, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jaydev Unadkat, Ish Sodhi, Anureet Singh

Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul(wk), Chris Gayle, Akshdeep Nath, Karun Nair, Axar Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Manoj Tiwary, R Ashwin(c), Andrew Tye, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

19:31 hrs IST: Rajasthan Royals have won the toss and have opted to bat

19:25 hrs IST: STAT ATTACK - Jaipur has been the toughest venue to hit sixes in this IPL - only 32 maximums have been hit so far there with one every 27 balls.

19:17 hrs IST: Ian Bishop with the pitch report: “It isn’t very well grassed. The spinners will come into play and the seamers with their cutters will be able to get some grip out of this surface. It might slow down by the end of the day and captains could be tempted to bat first.”

19:10 hrs IST: Manoj Tiwary is trying really hard to copy Kedar Jadhav’s action. If anything, his arm is only going lower while bowling. He can try underarm rather than normal spin bowling.

19:00 hrs IST: Hello and welcome to HT’s live coverage of IPL 2018 match between Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.

Average performance by skipper Ajinkya Rahane and below-par show from Ben Stokes and Rahul Tripathi has hurt Rajasthan Royals badly and the hosts need all these batsmen to fire.

Jofra Archer, though, has been impressive and the only saving grace for them while Jaydev Unadkat has taken just seven wickets at a poor economy rate of 9.86.

On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab are back to winning ways and would look to consolidate their position in the top-four. KXIP can even take the second place if they win tonight, provided they improve their net run-rate.