The Rajasthan Royals hit a snag after climbing into the top four with a hat-trick of wins, slipping to consecutive losses in their last two games, leaving them on 12 points and needing to move on. They face the Punjab Kings, who have struggled with consistency and have yet to win back-to-back games this season. Their first chance to change that is tomorrow when they look to build on their recent eight-wicket win against table-toppers Gujarat Titans.
For much of the season, RR has been riding the purple patches of Jos Buttler and Yuzvendra Chahal, who have been bearing the side’s weight. So much so that even losing tosses made little difference to them. However, in the previous three games, Buttler hasn’t hit the same stride as he did earlier in the season, Chahal hasn’t taken as many wickets as he would’ve liked, and the results have reflected this.
In the meantime, Punjab has relied on the fulcrum of Shikhar Dhawan in the last three games, who has batted through the powerplay despite a poor start, striking at only 104. However, they appear to have finally struck a winning combination.
It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in this contest, but irrespective of the outcome, the match promises to be an exciting bout.
The match is scheduled to take place on the 7th of May, 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals Match 52 – Pitch Report
Because it is a day game, the dew factor will not be considered when deciding whether to bat first or chase. Both clubs have lost more games than they have won at the Wankhede, with 9 losses each.
Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals Match 52 – Probable XI
Punjab Kings
Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Rishi Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Sandeep Sharma
Rajasthan Royals
Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Karun Nair, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen
Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals Match 52 – Players to Watch
Jos Buttler
He is one player who is in the form of his life at the moment and even when he has a bad day, he puts in a 7/10 performance. The team’s results have not gone positively and since Punjab is not really in a great run of form, Jos will be looking to capitalize and get the Rajasthan Royals across the line. He has been scoring for fun and will be a tricky wicket to bag for the Punjab bowlers.
Yuzvendra Chahal
He is currently the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 19 wickets from 10 matches but in the last few games, he has not been able to scalp wickets and this game will be a perfect platform for him to get back into the groove because the Rajasthan Royals will need him in full form if they are to go deep into the tournament.
Shikhar Dhawan
He is a seasoned veteran and is currently the third-highest run-scorer in the tournament with 369 runs from 10 matches. He is in good touch but he will need to hold on to his wicket and anchor the innings as the other batters in the Punjab Kings lineup are not really firing on all cylinders. The Rajasthan Royals bowling attack will look to scalp his wicket first as the rest of the lineup can be cleaned up easily without Dhawan’s presence.
Liam Livingstone
He has been running hot and cold this season, but overall, he has done much better than in the previous seasons and you can clearly see that there is a great all-rounder in Liam, and with the right support on the non-striker end, he can really express himself and score those big runs. He has scored 293 runs from 10 matches and will be looking to score a lot more and help out the Punjab Kings.
Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals Match 52 – Fantasy Lineup No.1
Wicket Keeper – Jos Buttler (c), Sanju Samson, Jitesh Sharma
Batters – Shikhar Dhawan (vc), Shimron Hetmyer, Mayank Agarwal
All-Rounders – Ravichandran Ashwin, Rishi Dhawan
Bowlers – Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Trent Boult
Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals Match 52 – Fantasy Lineup No.2
Wicket Keeper – Jos Buttler (c), Jony Bairstow
Batters – Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal
All-Rounders – Liam Livingstone (vc), Ravichandran Ashwin
Bowlers – Yuzvendra Chahal, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Prasidh Krishna
Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals Match 52 – Predicted Winner
Both the teams need a win in order to stay on course for the playoffs and looking at the squad and recent form, we predict a win for the Rajasthan Royals.
