RR vs PBKS 65th Match Prediction

RR vs PBKS Team Previews

Rajasthan Royals

After cruising through the first half of the season, the Rajasthan Royals’ campaign has lost a bit of steam in the past couple of weeks. The team has now lost 3 consecutive matches as it heads into this contest. Nevertheless, with 16 points against its name and an excellent net run-rate, RR has a good chance of going through to the playoffs.

The team will need a strong start from Yashasvi Jaiswal and his new opening partner as Jos Buttler has joined the England national team and will no longer be available for selection. You can be certain that Jaiswal is going to go hard from the start and should be able to get RR to a good powerplay total. 

The Royals’ biggest strength lies in its middle order. Riyan Parag and Sanju Samson are in excellent form this season and are in fact having their best ever IPL tournament. Both of them are averaging over 60 runs and the team needs at least one of them to play a big inning.

Shubham Dubey and Dhruv Jurel have a clear but very difficult task of scoring quickly at the dreath. You cannot expect consistency from them but they have been able to make an impact in the few deliveries they face. If anything, the team would like them to be able to a bit more versatile against different bowling matchups.

Coming to the bowling, the seamers have been quite consistent for RR. Trent Boult and Avesh Khan have picked up 11 wickets each, while Sandeep Sharma has 10 against his name. Yuzvendra Chahal is the leading wicket-taker for the team with 15 wickets. 

This bowling attack is well-settled and will be quite confident of doing well against a struggling PBKS lineup. 

Punjab Kings

The Punjab Kings will be pretty disappointed with the way they have performed so far. For the tenth season in a row, the team has failed to reach the playoffs and has nothing but pride to play for.

The injury to Shikhar Dhawan midway through the season has hit the team’s batting prowess as they haven’t found a worthy replacement. Prabhsimran Singh and Johnny Bairstow have got some good starts but haven’t been able to convert them into big knocks. Bairstow's weakness against spin leaves him vulnerable to the middle-overs and we could see Ashwin make an entry to the powerplay for that very reason.

The middle order lacks a solid player who can hold on to one end. There are a couple of bright spots in the form of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma and the Kings will need to groom them for the upcoming seasons. The Punjab Kings also lack a solid all-rounder because Sam Curran's form has really dipped this season.

The bowlers on the other hand have performed better. Harshal Patel is among the leading wicket-takers of the season with 20 wickets (his economy rate is quite concerning, though), while Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, and Sam Curran have picked up more than 30 wickets between them. The spin department has Harpreet Brar, an underrated bowler who is able to keep things tight on most days. 

Rabada is unavailable and will likely be replaced by Nathan Ellis for this match.