Rajasthan Royals (RR) will be desperate to complete their revenge when they square off against the in-form Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on May 8 (Tuesday).
Meanwhile, the Royals are languishing at the bottom of the points table and will be keen to turn things for them.
The Royals will have to put their acts together and come good as a team. Moreover, their batting has been the main reason for their worry, as they struggled to put a good start. The overseas players have also failed to come good which has hurt their case.
However, they will look to leave this behind and start afresh against Punjab, who defeated them convincingly in the last game.
Here is the predicted XI of the Royals:
Ajinkya Rahane (c):
Ajinkya Rahane has had a good start to the tournament, however, lost momentum in the last few games.
Now, he needs to bat longer and ensure that runs don’t get dried from one end. Rahane will have to step up and change the fate in a do-or-die situation.
D’Arcy Short:
The swashbuckling Australian opener is yet to set the stage on fire. Short has had a poor visit to India, as the Royals failed to put up good starts.
He needs to show his mettle if Rajasthan wants to make inroads against a decent Punjab bowling.
Sanju Samson:
The prolific run-scorer Sanju Samson has had a great start to this tournament. He has scored consistently for his franchise batting at one drop.
However, Rajasthan management will want him to continue and help his team to return to winning note.
Ben Stokes:
The dashing all-rounder from England has had a very average tournament. He has failed to score runs and has been expensive with the ball.
Rajasthan have mainly struggled because of their overseas players, and Stokes is one of them. He needs to do justice to the money Royals paid for him.
Rahul Tripathi:
Rahul Tripathi has failed to replicate his form from the last season. He is still due to prove his worth, and this is the best time to show his capabilities. The management will also want a big score from the young Indian batsman.
Jos Buttler (wk):
The hard-hitting England wicket-keeper batsman has scored runs batting at the top but lacked partners at the other. Buttler will look to continue his momentum with the bat and provide a good start.
Jofra Archer: (9/10)
The inclusion of the all-rounder has boosted the Hyderabad camp, and he came up with decent performances too. Archer needs to pick early wickets to contain a destructive Punjab batting order.
Krishnappa Gowtham:
Gowtham has chipped in with useful contributions. However, he needs to do this consistently. He will have the responsibility to dry up runs in the middle-order against a capable batting order.
Shreyas Gopal:
Gopal didn’t have the same impact, as other wrist-spinners and will like to change the statistics. He will have to up his game if Rajasthan wants to give them an opportunity against Punjab.
Jaydev Unadkat: (6/10)
Unadkat has been a failure this season, as he failed to pick wickets with the new ball. He needs to bring his excellent game to the front and help Rajasthan come to winning ways.
Anureet Singh:
Anureet Singh didn’t have a great start to this season, as he went for 20 runs in his two overs. However, he will like to contain runs against Punjab and pick few wickets for his team.
Also read: “We threw it away and deserve to lose this game,” says Virat Kohli