RR v PBKS preview: Rajasthan Royals will take on Punjab Kings in the fourth game of IPL 2021 – here’s all you need to know about the fixture.
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IPL 2021: RR v PBKS preview
Two sides that have enough and more firepower in the batting department, Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings have issues with their bowling, something they sought to correct in the IPL auction. Despite the revamped squads, the new members in the Punjab bowling attack are fairly untested at IPL level while Rajasthan, missing Jofra Archer, are seriously short of an impact bowler.
Add in the flat Wankhede pitch and we are down to a contest between the batsmen. With Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes almost confirmed to open the batting for RR, they will look to start well in the powerplay and use their batting depth to build good totals. Punjab have quality in the middle-order with Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran and have added local talent in Shahrukh Khan to bolster the finishing.
Team news
RR: Rajasthan will miss Archer. Kartik Tyagi, who earlier had an injury, might be available. They are, otherwise, a full-strength side and could field Chris Morris and Mustafizur Rahamn in addition to the two England batsmen at the top as the four overseas players.
PBKS: Punjab Kings have a full-strength team but some interesting decisions to make. Do they bench Sarfaraz Khan? Will Fabian Allen play as the fourth overseas player or do they bank on Chris Jordan or Riley Meredith? Will Chris Gayle start the season off, especially as it is at Wankhede or will they want to test Dawid Malan, the No.1 ranked T20I batsman?
Pitch and weather
As the match between Chennai and Delhi on Saturday showed, the Wankhede pitch is a batting paradise and anything less than 200 would be tough to defend, especially with the dew expected to play a major role. The temperatures will be above 30-degree celsius at the start of play at least and the heat should aid humidity late in the night.
RR v PBKS Predicted XI
RR: Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Manan Vohra/Mahipal Lomror, Sanju Samson (c), Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Rahul Tewatia, Shreyas Gopal, Chetan Sakariya/Kartik Tyagi, Mustafizur Rahman
PBKS: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Sharukh Khan, Chris Jordan, Jhye Richardson, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami
