Punjab Kings take on Rajasthan Royals in match 27 of IPL 2024 at the Mullanpur Stadium in Chandigarh. The match starts at 7:30 pm IST on Saturday, April 13.
The Kings have played two home games so far, winning one and losing one. They come into this match after a narrow loss against SRH at this same venue in their previous match. Chasing 183 to win, they ended up scoring 180 runs.
The pair of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma added a 66-run stand, 36 of them in the 20th over. The Kings needed 29 to win the game and somehow SRH prevailed in the game by two runs.
The Kings can take a lot of positives from that game. The most positive thing will be the emergence of Shashank and Ashutosh as the team’s finishers.
However, the Kings have some concerns. They are not starting from their openers Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow. The England wicketkeeper-batsman has so far averaged less than 10 in this year’s IPL.
The pace unit looks great, while the spin pins seem a little thin. The inclusion of Sikandar Raza has given it some weight. There are also concerns over Liam Livingstone’s return. He last played in the match against LSG.
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Punjab Kings playing 11 vs Rajasthan Royals – IPL 2024, match 27
Shikhar Dhawan (C)
Captain Dhawan will open the batting. He has scored 152 runs so far this season at an average of 30.40. Remember that Dhawan is the second highest run-getter in the IPL with 6768 runs in 222 games.
Rilee Rossouw
PBKS may think about bringing in Rillee Rossow in place of Jonny Bairstow, who has so far averaged 16.20 in this year’s IPL and has scored 81 runs in five games. The South African batsman has a strike rate of 209 in the IPL.
Sam Curran
Curran has been used as a top-order batsman by PBKS in this year’s IPL so far. He scored 29 off 22 balls against SRH. He has a fifty to his name in the match against DC.
Sikandar Raza
With Liam Livingstone still not fit, Sikandar Razam will get his chance in the XI. He scored 28 off 22 balls and was not used with the ball. Being a foreign player in the XI, he has to contribute more.
Jitesh Sharma (WK)
Jitesh will come in at five. He hasn’t taken advantage of opportunities in the first five games. He scored 19 off 11 balls in the match against SRH. There is talk that he could be overlooked in India’s T20 World Cup squad.
Shashank Singh
Shashank will come in at six. He played a winning innings in the match against GT. Against SRH, he almost achieved another victory for PBKS. He scored 46 off 25 balls with a strike rate of 184. He is now a certainty in the XI.
Ashutosh Sharma
Another rookie Indian player, Ashutosh Sharma, will occupy the seventh spot. He has also shown tremendous finishing skills with the bat. Against SRH, he scored 33 off 15 balls at a strike rate of 220.
Kagiso Rabada
Rabada can enter at eight. He has international experience as best and can shoot the ball. So far this season, he has picked seven wickets in five balls.
Harshal Patel
Harshal will bat at nine. Against SRH, he bowled well in the final overs taking 2/30. He is three shy of 100 IPL games and has 117 PL wickets to his name.
Harpreet Brar
Brar can bat at 10. He is also capable of hitting some big shots. He ran out of ground in the last match and it was very expensive. That was the most expensive figure of his IPL career. He has taken four wickets in five games.
Arshdeep Singh
Arshdeep concludes the probable Punjab Kings XI against Rajasthan Royals. He took 4/29 and jumped to the number three spot in the wicket-takers list with eight wickets in five games.
Sub-Prabhsimran Singh Impact
Prabhsimran Singh has been continuously used as an Impact Sub by PBKS. He has so far scored only 109 runs at an average of 21.80 in five matches. He scored 358 runs last season.
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Read the articles from the PBKS vs RR match