Overview: Both Rajasthan and Punjab have started the campaign in the right way by winning their first game. Though Punjab won by the DLS method, they were controlling for the major part. On the other hand, Rajasthan thumped Hyderabad by 72 runs. Rajasthan will play their first home game at Guwahati and Punjab will play their first away game. Over the years, this rivalry hasn’t been a great one, but in the recent past they have produced some nail bitters (Tewatia’s heroics in 2020, Samson’s ton in vain in 2021 and Karthik Tyagi’s final over in 2022.) The Head-to-Head record between these two teams are in favor of the Royals as 14 – 10.
RAJASTHAN ROYALS: The Royals outplayed the Sunrisers in all three departments in their previous game. It was a near perfect game where their top 3 fired and all their bowlers looked good barring Saini. The spin duo of Ashwin and Chahal did really well in Hyderabad and expected to do the same in Guwahati as well even though it favors the seamers a bit. They used Saini as their impact sub for Jaiswal which didn’t work but they won’t change this strategy as RR is one of the teams for which the Impact Sub will be more useful.
PUNJAB KINGS: Punjab defeated Kolkata by 7 runs (D/L Method) in their first game. The margin would’ve been bigger if not for Russell’s late heroics. Other than that, they had a good game where their batters exploded throughout the innings by batting around their skipper and anchor Dhawan who scored 40 runs. The form of Rajapaksha will be encouraging considering the fact that he has replaced Bairstow. Sikandar Raza made his IPL Debut and fared well, Punjab will hope he’ll continue his form until Livingstone returns. In the bowling department, Arshdeep was outstanding, and Sam Curran had a decent outing, but they’ll expect more from their all-time expensive pick. Also, Rabada has returned from national duties and would be available for the game and may replace Nathan Eliis.
PROBABLE XI:
RAJASTHAN ROYALS: Y JAISWAL, J BUTLER, S SAMSON (C & WK), D PADIKKAL, R PARAG, S HETMYER, J HOLDER, R ASHWIN, T BOULT, KM ASIF, Y CHAHAL (IMPACT SUB – N SAINI & KC CARIAPPA)
PUNJAB KINGS: S DHAWAN (C), P SINGH, B RAJAPAKSHA, J SHARMA (WK), S RAZA, S CURRAN, S KHAN, H BRAR, R CHAHAR, A SINGH, K RABADA / N ELLIS (IMPACT SUBS – R DHAWAN & A TAIDE)
INTERESTING FACTS:
- Rajasthan Royals have won 5 out of the last 6 games played against Punjab Kings.
- Chahal needs just 1 more wicket to become the second highest wicket taker in the IPL by going past Malinga (170 wickets).
- Dhawan needs 77 more runs to become the highest run scorer vs Rajasthan in IPL History,
- The highest total chased in IPL was by Rajasthan vs Punjab.
PITCH & WEATHER REPORT: The weather is clear and fine for a complete 40 over game, No rain is expected but dew is expected to play a big role. Historically teams prefer to chase here considering the dew factor.
MATCH DETAILS:
TIME – 7:30 PM
DATE – 5th APRIL 2023
VENUE: Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati
DREAM XI TEAM:
