The TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 has crossed the halfway point of the tournament, and the 19th edition of the tournament has been an exciting one, with high-scoring chases to low-scoring thrillers in the last 39 matches as fans have witnessed everything possible in the competition. In the 40th match, Punjab Kings (PBKS) will host Rajasthan Royals (RR).
The two teams are in contrasting form in the current league. The hosts remain unbeaten in the league and are at the top of the table, while Rajasthan have had a stop-start campaign and come into this match having lost the last two of their three matches, which has been a worry for Riyan Parag’s side.
IPL 2026: PBKS vs RR Preview:
Punjab Kings are the most in-form team in the tournament; They have won six games and one match was lost. They could have gotten the full 14 points in the first seven games. Shreyas Iyer’s team in their last game chased the target of 265 runs against Delhi Capitals, which was the record chase in the history of T20 and IPL.
Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, lost against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their first home match in Jaipur. Although Vaibhav Sooryavanshi scored his second IPL hundred, it was in vain as the duo of Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan led the charge and chased down the target of 229 runs. The Royals’ middle-order batting has been a problem as the captain has failed to score many runs this season.
The PBKS vs RR clash will be exciting with one of the best batting teams in the powerplay against one of the best bowling teams in the powerplay. It will be an exciting encounter in New Chandigarh. The two teams have met 30 times in the IPL, with RR having the edge, winning 17 games and the Kings, 13.
The pitch for the PBKS vs RR clash will be a batting paradise as the pitch at this venue has favored batsmen. With an average score of 212 in the first innings, fans can expect another high-scoring encounter. The last time PBKS played here, it was Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly’s massacre against LSG where they scored 254 runs.
PBKS vs RR Release Result Today IPL 2026 Match 40
Rajasthan Royals won the toss and opted to play first. Riyan Parag said: “We will be bowling first. It looks like a pretty good wicket, but there was a bit of cloud cover and also a little rain, so a bit of humidity at the start, so we are trying to extract that, get some early wickets and, yes, hopefully, chase it. Two overs. Hetmyer stays out, Dasun Shanaka comes in. And there is one more over. Bishnoi comes out and Yash Punja comes in.”
PBKS playing XI vs RR today IPL 2026 Match 40
Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Suyansh Shedge, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson, Yuzvendra Chahal.
RR playing XI vs PBKS today IPL 2026 Match 40
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel(w), Riyan Parag(c), Dasun Shanaka, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Yash Raj Punja
PBKS vs RR Impact players today IPL 2026 Match 40
Punjab Kings Impact Players: Vyshak Vijaykumar, Harpreet Brar, Xavier Bartlett, Musheer Khan, Vishnu Vinod
Rajasthan Royals Impact Players: Ravi Bishnoi, Ravi Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Shubham Dubey, Shimron Hetmyer
Also Read: PBKS vs RR Dream11 Prediction, Today’s Match, Dream11 Team Today, Fantasy Cricket Tips, Playing XI, Pitch Report, Injury Update: IPL 2026, Match 40