Rajasthan Royals will have to implement better strategy against Punjab Kings – Dainik Savera Times

Mullanpur: Rajasthan Royals, who lost after reaching the threshold of victory in the last match, will have to execute their strategy better against Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League match on Saturday as the host team is very capable despite not performing consistently. Royals had a golden opportunity to register their fifth consecutive win but on the basis of Rashid Khan’s brilliant bowling, Gujarat Titans won on the last ball on Wednesday.

It was no less than a shock for the Royals to lose in their stronghold Jaipur. Forgetting this, they will now aim to return to the path of victory. Royals bowlers Kuldeep Sen (19th over) and Avesh Khan (20th over) under the captaincy of Sanju Samson gave away 35 runs in 12 balls. Samson made a big mistake by not making Trent Boult complete his quota of four overs while Boult had given only eight runs in two overs. His experience would have been very useful in moments of pressure.

On the other hand, the Punjab team captained by Shikhar Dhawan has won two out of five matches and lost three. Its strong batsmen are not able to perform and the entire responsibility of scoring runs has fallen on unknown batsmen like Shashank Singh and Abhishek Sharma. Opener Jonny Bairstow (81 runs in five matches) and middle-order batsman Jitesh Sharma (77 runs in five matches) have not been able to play as per expectations due to which the team could not get a good start. Sam Curran has been average in bowling and has not been able to do justice to his abilities with the bat either.

The team is missing the injured Liam Livingstone in the middle order. The performance of Punjab bowlers has been better but they have given away a lot of runs when bowling first. In the last three matches, the opposition team has scored 199, 199 and 182 runs against Punjab while bowlers like Kagiso Rabada and Arshdeep Singh are in the team. The challenge for the Royals is also to maintain good momentum as they usually falter after a good start in the tournament. This is the reason why they could reach the playoffs only twice in the last six seasons.

Teams:

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (captain), Abid Mushtaq, Avesh Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Donovan Ferreira, Jos Buttler, Kuldeep Sen, Krunal Singh Rathore, Nandre Berger, Navdeep Saini, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ryan Parag, Sandeep Sharma, Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Rovman. Powell, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Trent Boult, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Yuzvendra Chahal and Tanush Kotian.

Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Tyde, Arshdeep Singh Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kawerappa, Shivam Singh, Harshal Patel, Chris Woakes, Ashutosh Sharma, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Shashank Singh, Tanay Thiagarajan, Prince Choudhary and Riley Roseau.

Time: The match will start at 7:30 pm.