Desperate Royals keen to bounce back

After losing to Kings XI Punjab in their last match on Sunday, bottom-placed Rajasthan Royals eye for revenge when they face the same opponents in Jaipur on Tuesday.

Ajinkya Rahane-led Rajasthan are struggling badly in the tournament so far, winning just three of the nine games they played. They are lying at the bottom of the league table with just six points.

Their star players have failed to perform in unison, because of which the team is now under the threat of making an early exit from the race for play-offs.

On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab, whose winning momentum got shattered lately due to successive defeats, have finally got a moral boosting win on Sunday.

They are currently placed at third in the points table with six wins from nine games.

Rajasthan, which only managed to win only one out of the six away games they played, would like to make the most of their remaining home games where they have a fine record till now.

However, it will not be straight for them as their morale will be pretty low following three consecutive reverses.

Rajasthan's batting in this tournament has been their major cause for worry. Their batsmen have failed to put runs on the board and have stumbled regularly while chasing the target.

Skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who has previously been a consistent performer for Royals in IPL, has disappointed with his batting, scoring only 230 runs from eight games with just one fifty plus score.

The problem for Rajasthan in this season has been the poor run of their big buys, Jos Buttler (238) and D'Arcy Short (111) have also failed to live up to the expectations with bat.

While, Krishnappa Gowtham (6 wickets each) and Jaydev Unadkat (nine wickets) looks ineffective with the ball, adding to Royals' misery.

But the biggest setback for Royals this year has been the poor run of English all-rounder Ben Stokes. Rajasthan broke the banks and spent Rs.12.5 crores to add the 26-year-old English player into their side but he hasn't lived up to the expectation.

Ben, who played a crucial role in Rising Pune Supergiant's terrific run last season, by winning the Man of the Tournament award, managed to compile just 160 runs with grabbing only two wickets from nine games.

On the other side, Punjab is riding high on the destructive start they are getting from the opening duo of Chris Gayle and KL Rahul.

While, Gayle has 310 runs in six innings with three fifties and a century, Rahul has managed 376 runs from nine innings.

But two big names of the T20 circuit Yuvraj Singh (64 runs from 5 games) and Aaron Finch (24 runs from 5 games) are yet to find their scoring touch.

In the bowling department, the 17-year-old Afghan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman (12 wickets) is making most of the opportunity and is also equally good an economically. He was the star performer in KXIP's six wicket win over Rajasthan on Sunday, clinching three wickets.

While Australian Tye (12 wickets from nine games), pacer Ankit Rajpoot and skipper Ravichandran Ashwin add strength to the team's bowling.