Rajasthan Royals takes on Punjab Kings in an away contest at the newly-built Mullanpur stadium on April 13. It’s an evening game with the Royals needing to do a quick turnaround after their heartbreaking loss to Gujarat Titans in their previous match.
The Rajasthan Royals had posted a competitive target of 196/3 from their 20 overs. They had the game in their hand well till the last two overs. However, the pair of Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia scored 35 off the last two overs including 16 from the last over.
This was the first loss for the Royals in this season’s IPL. Despite the loss, they had many positives from the game with Kuldeep Sen’s bowling being one of them. It is their bowling that needs an improvement, especially in the final overs.
This is where the absence of Sandeep Sharma is hurting them as a team. Yuzvendra Chahal has been picking up wickets merrily with Ravichandran Ashwin doing his job silently of keeping the batters quiet.
The challenge for the Royals will be to wain away from home. They have already won their first away game against Mumbai Indians. In this article, we predict Rajasthan Royals playing XI against Punjab Kings for their match in Mullanpur on Saturday.
Rajasthan Royals Playing 11 vs Punjab Kings- IPL 2024, Match 27
Jos Buttler
Buttler scored just 8 in the match against GT. He was picked up early in the big game. He scored a hundred in the match against RCB in a winning cause. He has scored 143 runs so far with a best of 100*.
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Jaiswal will open the batting with Buttler. He scored 24 off 19 balls before falling to Umesh Yadav. His ultra-aggressive approach has been his downfall so far this season.
Sanju Samson (C/WK)
Samson will slot in at three. he scored an unbeaten 68 off 33 balls to take his team to a score of 190-plus. This was his third fifty of the season. He has scored 246 runs in five games at an average of 82.00 and a strike rate touching 180.
Riyan Parag
Parag will slot in at four. His rise at that number has been one of the finds for RR. He scored 76 off 48 balls in the match and has already racked up 261 runs from five games at an average of 87.00 making this already his best IPL season.
Shimron Hetmyer
Hetmyer has been the perfect pinch hitter for the Royals. He scored 13 off five balls in the match against GT at a strike rate of 260.00. he will be persisted within the lineup.
Dhruv Jurel
Jurel will slot in at six. He has not got too many opportunities with the bat so far. He is heading into the IPL 2024 after a good Test debut against England. He will be looking forward to another opportunity with the bat.
Ravichandran Ashwin
Ashwin will slot in at seven. He batted at five in a couple of games for the Royals. He has been given opportunities with the bat by this franchise. He has picked up just one wicket so far in this IPL and has 172 wickets overall.
Trent Boult
Boult bowled two overs for just 8 runs in the match against Gujarat Titans. He has picked up five wickets from five games. Overall, he has picked 110 wickets in 93 matches in the IPL.
Avesh Khan
Avesh Khan will be one of the two Indian pacers in the XI. He picked up 1 for 48 and was expensive with the ball against Gujarat Titans. He has picked up 58 wickets from 52 matches in the IPL.
Kuldeep Sen
Kuldeep Sen picked up 3/41 in the very first game that he played in this year’s IPL. He defeated batters with his pace and it was a big problem for them to face up against him. He also has a very good yorker.
Yuzvendra Chahal
Chahal concludes the likely XI for Rajasthan Royals. He has already picked up nine wickets in this year’s IPL and has 197 IPL wickets. He has played 150 games in the IPL and is just three shy of 200 IPL wickets. He is already the highest wicket-taker in the league.
Impact Sub- Keshav Maharaj
Maharaj might be the Impact Sub like he was used in the last game by the Royals. He bowled two overs and went for 16 runs. he is a part of the Royals spin trio including Chahal and Ashwin. This is his very first IPL season. He was roped in as a replacement for Prasidh Krishna.
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