Punjab Kings will take on Rajasthan Royals in match number 33 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 tournament, which began its second leg in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday. The first leg of IPL 2021 was held in India earlier this year, but it was postponed owing to the second wave of coronavirus pandemic in the country.
At the time of postponement of the first leg of IPL 2021, Rajasthan Royals but please add the placed at the fifth position in the points table followed by Punjab Kings at the sixth spot. The contest between these two teams, to be played at the Dubai international Stadium on Tuesday night, will be a mid-table battle between two teams who are struggling with their own problems.
Rajasthan Royals have six points in seven matches which includes three victories and four defeats, whereas Punjab Kings are currently placed at the sixth position with three wins and five defeats helping them record six points in eight matches that they have played.
Rajasthan Royals will continue to remain without the services of Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Andrew Tye for the second leg of IPL 2021, for which they have brought in Evin Lewis, Oshane Thomas, Glenn Phillips and Tabraiz Shamsi.
On the other hand, Punjab Kings will be without their preferred fast bowling Australian pair of Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith, with another Aussie bowler in Nathan Ellis coming into the side. South Africa batsman Aiden Markram and England spinner Adil Rashid are also among the additions in the Punjab team.
Both the teams have some kind of issues with the bat. While Punjab Kings have tremendous firepower at the top in the form of KL Rahul, Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal, the middle order consisting Nicolas Pooran and Deepak Hooda has not delivered as often to their liking. On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals will be heavily dependent on their wicketkeeper-batsman-captain Sanju Samson to guide them in the middle with the bat, since they are going to be without some really crucial players in their side.
Rajasthan Royals have an exciting batsman in the form of Liam Livingstone, with the Englishman getting a reputation of being absolutely belligerent with the bat and someone who is extremely aggressive with his strokeplay. In the bowling department, the winners of the inaugural edition of IPL in 2008, Rajasthan Royals will be heavily dependent on the costliest player in the history of the tournament, South Africa’s Chris Morris, to guide the fast bowling attack which consists of Mustafizur Rahman, Jaydev Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya.
Rajasthan would want more from their young batsmen such as Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dubey, Riyan Parag and Rahul Tewatia, who all have shown glimpses of their talent but have not performed consistently for any one’s liking.