Overview:
After climbing into the top four with a hat-trick of wins, the Rajasthan Royals hit a roadblock slipping to successive losses in their last two games, stuck on 12 points with a need to move on. They're up against the Punjab Kings, who have been marred by inconsistency, having failed to register back-to-back wins yet this season. Their first chance at turning that around is today, carrying forward momentum from their last eight-wicket win against table-toppers Gujarat Titans. Both the teams would be charged and pumped up to win the match and make progress in points table and give themselves a good chance to qualify for IPL 2022 playoffs.
Venue and Time:
Wankhede Cricket Stadium, Mumbai at 15:30 pm IST on 7 May 2022.
Live Streaming:
Star Sports Network and Disney+Hotstar VIP and Premium Account will be streaming Match 52 of TATA IPL between RR & PBKS.
Expected Playing 11:
Punjab Kings:
Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Mayank Agarwal (C), Jitesh Sharma (WK), Shahrukh Khan, Rishi Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Vaibhav Arora, Arshdeep Singh.
Rajasthan Royals:
Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (C&WK), Karun Nair, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Stats:
- Head-to-Head Record in 23 matches played together: RR (13) - PBKS (10).
- Out of 95 matches played at this venue, 45 wins came by teams batting first and 50 wins by batting second.
- Yuzvendra Chahal has taken the most wickets in IPL this season (19) and is currently the purple cap holder.
- Jos Buttler has scored most runs in IPL this season (588 runs) and is currently the orange cap holder.
- Liam Livingstone has hit the biggest six of this season IPL (117 m).
Pitch Report:
The wicket at the Wankhede offers help for both the pacers and spinners. Close proximity to the Arabian sea helps the swing bowlers considerably, especially during the powerplay overs. Although the new ball does a bit in the powerplay overs, the pitch tends to ease out and favour batsmen as the innings progresses. The team winning the toss is most likely going to bowl first but it won't be surprising if they choose to bat first as it's a day game. There will be no dew as it's an afternoon game so the toss is unlikely to play a big role in deciding the result of the game.
Dream 11 Team:
