King XI Punjab and the Rajasthan Royals will square off against each other in the 4th fixture of Indian Premier League 2019. This match is scheduled to be played at The Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur and has been an advantage for Royals over the years.
After a dull start between CSK and RCB in the opening match of the season, there was a nail-biting encounter between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders, where Andre Russell’s thundering knock helped his team to win their first game of the season.
In the 3rd game of the season, Yuvraj Singh played an exceptional inning of 53 runs for Mumbai against Delhi Capitals, yet Mumbai failed to register their first win of the season.
The Royals would be looking forward to winning their home game to boost up their confidence. After a year ban, Australian ace batsman Steve Smith is back with his kit and surely makes his team look strong. Royals have been unbeaten against Kings XI Punjab in their last five outings.
Coming to Kings, they were on the exceptional run in the first half of the season last year with five wins in a row. They were expected to win the title, but somehow they lost their momentum and finished at 7th position by the end of the season.
When and Where:
KXIP vs RR, Indian Premier League
The Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
25th March 2019
Last five matches:
KXIP: L, L, L, L, L
RR: L, W, L, W, W
Squad:
Kings XI Punjab: Ravi Ashwin (C), Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, Mandeep Singh, David Miller, Sarfraz Khan, Moises Henriques, Harpreet Brar, Sam Curran, Varun Chakravarthi, PrabhSimran Singh, Nicolas Pooran, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Andrew Tye, Hardus Viljoen, Ankit Rajpoot, Arshdeep Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Agnivesh Ayachi
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane(C), Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Ashton Turner, Liam Livingstone, Prashant Chopra, Shashank Singh, Shubham Ranjane, Mahipal Lomror, Riyan Parag, Jofra Archer, Manan Vohra, Aryaman Birla, Rahul Tripathi, Stuart Binny, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Ish Sodhi, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni, Varun Aaron, Oshane Thomas, S. Midhun
Team News:
King XI Punjab:
Chris Gayle, N Pooran and Mujeeb Ur Rahman will be seen in the first game
Andrew Tye will not be playing the first match for Punjab.
Rajasthan Royals:
Australian Batsman Steve Smith is set to play his first game for RR
Ashton Turner will not be playing the first game, as he is busy playing against Pakistan in UAE.
Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer are few vital players for RR and are expected to give a lot of return.
Playing 11:
KXIP: Nicholas Pooran (WK), Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Mandeep Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin (C), Varun Chakravarthy, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Andrew Tye, Ankit Rajpoot
RR: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Jos Buttler (WK), Steve Smith, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Jofra Archer, Varun Aaron
Pitch Report: This pitch can get some advantages for batsmen but Jaipur even favours fast bowlers sometimes. Side winning toss would opt to field first and chasing gets easier here.
KXIP vs RR Dream11 Grand league Teams:
Team 1: It will not be easy to crush Rajasthan Royals at their home ground. They have won in their last five head to head encounter at Sawai Man Singh.
J Buttler (vc)
S Samson
R Tripathi
N Pooran
Chris Gayle
R Ashwin
K Gowtham
B Stokes (c)
M Shami
D Kulkarni
J Archer
Team 2:
Kl Rahul (wk)
S Samson
R Tripathi
N Pooran
S Smith (c)
R Ashwin (vc)
K Gowtham
B Stokes
M Shami
D Kulkarni
J Archer
Team 3: KL Rahul and Chris Gayle are one of the destructive batsmen for KXIP and they are expected to get some vital runs from their bats.
KL Rahul (wk) (vc)
S Samson
R Tripathi
N Pooran
C Gayle (c)
R Ashwin
K Gowtham
B Stokes
M Shami
D Kulkarni
Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Key players:
Rajasthan Royals:
Jos Buttler
Steve Smith
Ben Stokes
Jaydev Unadkat
A Rahane
Kings XI Punjab:
KL Rahul
Chris Gayle
Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Nicholas Pooran