As KKR lost yesterday’s match to CSK, Kings XI Punjab must eye two consecutive wins and if they can do it, they have not to go through any mathematical calculation to qualify for the playoffs. The fall started in Punjab’s IPL run with the loss against Rajasthan Royals when the latter chased down 223 even with a few balls to spare. After that, an experienced giant joined the camp with all his calmness and his presence, somehow, geared them up to register five consecutive victories. From the early stage of the tournament to the later one…. they meet again. Rajasthan will be thinking that a win in this contest may take them close to the fight for final four, as it will be then a 14 points contest in the lower half of the table.
Punjab sent KKR to bat first in the last match and it was a good decision on Rahul’s part. With a very consistent top order and Nicholas Puran in the middle, Punjab took away pressure from the bowling side. Keeping in mind the slow start of KKR, Rahul introduced his part timer very early and Maxwell gave an important breakthrough. Shami with terrific length made it 10-3. With 149 to defend against a short boundary, KKR had no magical spell to affect Punjab’s chase. They were just outplayed in every department of the game.
Rajasthan beat Mumbai Indians last time and the way they outplayed them was outstanding. Hardik Pandya with a 21 ball 60 took Mumbai from an expected average score to a healthy 190+. In a must-win game, to keep themselves in the race, Rajasthan kept their nerve cool and chased it down riding on a memorable unbeaten knock from Ben Stokes.
Rajasthan’s batting has a mixed success so far in the tournament. But if you closely examine, they have a long batting line up with Tewatia, Shreyas Gopal and Jofra Archer in the lower middle order. Uthappa and Stokes can set the tone of the game. Steve Smith, in the last few games, is found to be not in rhythm. Samson did well in the last match. A top-class batsman like Jos Buttler to come after that and I have no word to say how good he is.
We don’t know whether Mayank Agarwal will be back or not. Rahul has to take more responsibility in absence of Agarwal. Chris Gayle and in-form Pooran are to follow them. As I said in my article KKR vs KXIP: Match Preview, Punjab have weak middle order issue.
Ravi Bishnoi and M. Ashwin will lead Kings’ attack along with champion Shami. Chris Jordan needs to be disciplined with his line. He has been doing well, since the super over against Mumbai.
Royals’ bowling is not as good as that of Punjab. Karthik Tyagi is very young and has a lot of things to learn. Ankit Rajpoot went for so many runs in the last game. Gopal and Tewatia in the middle should be wicket to wicket. Jofra Archer is the only bowler in the unit to be considered as a special one.
It’s better to chase on winning toss, as dew in the second half is making the job of the batsmen comparatively easy. No team, probably, will go through any changes, in their respective batting units, if there are a chances in the bowling unit.