IPL 2021, RR vs PBKS Live: Rajasthan Royals face Punjab Kings. (BCCI/IPL)IPL 2021, RR vs PBKS Team Predicted Playing 11 for Today Match: Tonight will be the battle of big-hitters when KL Rahul’s Punjab Kings take on the Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals. Both the teams have a squad filled with stroke-makers who are in pursuit of a winning start to their IPL campaigns on Monday.
Rajasthan will be banking heavily on their swashbuckling all-rounder Ben Stokes. Stokes will be keen to get some runs under his belt and so will be the likes of Englishman Jos Buttler and newly-appointed skipper Samson, who is a mine-field of talent.
The Royals could opt to open with the highly-rated Yashasvi Jaiswal and Buttler. While Samson, who would be itching to prove a point, and Stokes would then form a strong middle-order.
Punjab Kings XI: KL Rahul, M Agarwal, C Gayle, N Pooran, D Hooda, S Khan, J Richardson, M Ashwin, M Shami, R Meredith, A Singh (3 debutants)
Rajasthan Royals XI: M Vohra, B Stokes, S Samson, J Buttler, S Dube, R Parag, R Tewatia, C Morris, S Gopal, C Sakariya, M Rahman (4 debutants)
Rajasthan Royals Squad: Jos Buttler(w), Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson(c), Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Liam Livingstone, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi, Mustafizur Rahman, Andrew Tye, Jofra Archer, Mayank Markande, Anuj Rawat, Chetan Sakariya, Kuldip Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, David Miller, Manan Vohra, KC Cariappa, Mahipal Lomror, Akash Singh
Punjab Kings Squad: KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Prabhsimran Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Deepak Hooda, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Moises Henriques, Chris Jordan, Mandeep Singh, Dawid Malan, Jalaj Saxena, Murugan Ashwin, Sarfaraz Khan, Fabian Allen, Saurabh Kumar, Ishan Porel, Utkarsh Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar
Match 4, Wankhede Stadium, 12 Apr, 2021
Punjab Kings XI: KL Rahul, M Agarwal, C Gayle, N Pooran, D Hooda, S Khan, J Richardson, M Ashwin, M Shami, R Meredith, A Singh (3 debutants)
Rajasthan Royals XI: M Vohra, B Stokes, S Samson, J Buttler, S Dube, R Parag, R Tewatia, C Morris, S Gopal, C Sakariya, M Rahman (4 debutants)
Samson wins toss for Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings to bat first. Follow the Indian Express Live Blog of the RR vs PBKS match from 7:30 pm IST onwards here.
Here's some team news as the teams make their way into the middle for warm-ups. Shahrukh Khan, Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith receive their caps in the Punjab huddle. Follow the Indian Express Live Blog of the RR vs PBKS match from 7:30 pm IST onwards here.
Toss and team news at 7 pm. Follow the Indian Express Live Blog of the RR vs PBKS match from 7:30 pm IST onwards here.
It's a wicketkeeper captain derby tonight! Samson vs Rahul. Rahul has slipped in comfortably into the robes of skipper at Punjab, who are hoping a change of name will accompany a change of fortunes this season. For Samson, this is the start of a sweet new chapter in his Rajasthan Royals journey, the team he came to as a fresh faced 17-18 year old a few years ago.
South Africa’s Chris Morris was bagged by Rajasthan Royals for a massive 16.25 cr. With this he became the most expensive foreign player ever. In an interview with BBC Sport, Morris said, “My phone blew up – my mates from home were saying they’ll never pay for beers or anything again... I’m a big believer in wanting to look after what my family does in the future – if my three-year-old son needs to have a car when he’s 18 or needs to go to university, I don’t have to worry about stuff like that."
“It’s not about spoiling us now, about buying cars, holiday home. It’s just about making sure everyone is looked after one day.”
While news of the playing XIs is still two hours away, we do know who the biggest stars likely to be in this match are. There's no Jofra Archer, who is complaining of Twitter of the time he is losing. But there is the Rahul, Mayank opening combo, the Jos Buttler storm on the other side and plenty more big hitting to look out for. Bring out the hard hats!
There were many higher innings and better bowling performances, but the most iconic performance from the last season came in this very encounter, when Rahul Tewatia did something that made his surname a verb to be cherished for ages in Indian cricket.
To do a Tewatia (verb) - To initially struggle till your back is flat against the wall, and then when all hope seems lost, you turn back and play out of your skin to pull off a miracle for your team.
"Both the teams have a problem that they want to pick two fast bowlers in their four overseas players but will they be able to do that. Punjab wants to play both Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith, they have spent that much money for them," Chopra said in a video posted on his Youtube channel. "But if they do that Moises Henriques will not be able to play and only five bowlers will remain. Your lower-middle order will also look a little weak and you will have to go for the likes of Deepak Hooda, Shahrukh Khan and Sarfaraz to bat after Pooran," said Chopra.
Punjab Kings' new recruit Riley Meredith is known to clock 150 kph. He is coming off the back of an impressive BBL campaign where his pace and bounce helped in taking 16 wickets at a decent economy rate of 7.82 despite bowling majorly in the initial four-over powerplay and often returning at the death. 'I think I will do what I always do, bring in my aggression and try and bowl fast and take wickets throughout the innings. Not a lot of changes would have to adapt to the pitches and I am sure it will be fine,' Meredith said.
Rajasthan will be banking heavily on their swashbuckling all-rounder Ben Stokes. Stokes, who forms strong middle order, will be keen to get some runs under his belt.
The Royals could opt to open with the highly-rated Yashasvi Jaiswal and Buttler.
Rajasthan Royals will not rush Jofra Archer back from injury but hope the England fast bowler will play some part in their campaign this season, team director Kumar Sangakkara said. Archer underwent surgery to remove a glass fragment from a tendon on his right hand last week after an attempt to clean his fish tank went wrong. The 25-year-old sustained the injury at his home in January and the operation was carried out while he was undergoing treatment for a long-term elbow injury. 'Not having him at the start is a big blow for us because a lot of our planning is centred around his availability,' Sangakkara said ahead of their season opener against Punjab Kings later on Monday. 'We are certainly hoping that he will be available for some part of the IPL but we have contingency plans in place now and no risks will be taken. 'It's very important that Jofra gets fit, not just for the IPL, but importantly for his international career. 'His value to world cricket and to England cricket is part of our decision and we will be guided by the experts in English cricket who look after Jofra.' Rajasthan first bought Archer for 72 million Indian rupees in 2018 and have retained the Barbados-born quick each season. He was the tournament's most valuable player last season with 20 wickets.
Punjab Kings: KL Rahul (c & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, Jhye Richardson, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Shreyas Gopal, Andrew Tye, Kartik Tyagi
With star pacer Jofra Archer missing due to injury, the pace attack will have to be led by Rajasthan's newest recruit -- Chris Morris, who will be eager to justify his price tag of Rs 16.25 crore.
Uncelebrated batsmen Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi produced stellar knocks to fuel Kolkata Knight Riders to a steep total of 187/6 on a slow surface before they consigned Sunrisers Hyderabad to a 10-run defeat, in the process exposing their vulnerabilities. Though the margin of victory was relatively slim, the gulf in quality between the sides was sizeable. READ MORE
If there is one player that RR needs to be aware of it is KL Rahul -- the Karnatka lad has scored 390 runs at an average of 55.71 against Rajasthan. He has smashed four fifties with a best of 95 not out.
Until the last season, Rajasthan have won 12 matches while Punjab have secured nine wins. However, last season, RR completed the league double over PBKS. They won the first encounter by four wickets. The second match saw RR win again by seven scalps.
In tonight's encounter, it will be Rajasthan Royals against Punjab Kings. Kings XI Punjab have been renamed as Punjab Kings ahead of the 2021 IPL. Between the two sides, Rajashtan have the edge in the head-to-head meetings between the two teams.