It's match-day 9 in the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 as Rajasthan Royals (RR) square off against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
RR made a solid start to their IPL 2020 campaign, beating Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 16 runs. While Sanju Samson and Steve Smith scored an impressive 74 and 69 respectively, and Jofra Archer chipped in with a quickfire 27 off 8, Rahul Tewatia picked up three to power RR to a win.
Coming to KXIP, they bounced back in style following a Super Over-defeat against Delhi Capitals and beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on the back of a KL Rahul batting masterclass on Thursday. KXIP spinners - Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin - played their part to seal a big 97-run win.
Going by the way things have gone for them, they appear to be a bit weak in the fast-bowling department. They are a little too over-reliant on Mohammad Shami to pick up early wickets and that could hurt them big time should he not manages to do that. Given the short boundaries at Sharjah Cricket Ground, the lack of fast-bowling options could prove to be a massive disadvantage. Even though Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin were superb in the previous match, bowling to the likes of Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, and Sanju Samson would be a steep challenge to overcome.
As we saw in the first match, Kings XI Punjab's batting relies heavily on KL Rahul and Glenn Maxwell to do the heavy-hitting. The likes of Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair can be the perfect foil for the two players, but dominating the bowling would a huge challenge for them. Nicholas Pooran has been extremely inconsistent and stalled Kings XI Punjab's innings in the last match as he played a 17-run knock at a pedestrian pace.
Going by the on-paper combination, Kings XI Punjab still have a lot of things to be concerned about. Their batting looks a little too over-reliant on KL Rahul & Glenn Maxwell and their spin attack is a bit too inexperienced. If they can overcome these bottlenecks in the upcoming match, Kings XI Punjab would be a tough side to get past.
While there was a lot of good stuff that Rajasthan did in their opening match, they still have a few areas to improve in. These are still early days, but Jayadev Unadkat's form would definitely concern them. Given that he hasn't performed for a long time, we might see Varun Aaron get a game ahead of Unadkat. It would also be interesting to see how the Royals use Jaiswal considering that Jos Buttler is expected to walk right back into the playing eleven.
Bringing in Jos Buttler without impacting the balance could be a bit challenging for the Royals. Considering the best place for Buttler to bat is right at the top of the order, either of Jaiswal or Smith would have to drop down the lineup. Also, given the apparent lack of potency in the middle-order, replacing Buttler with David Miller is a choice that can backfire. We expect Buttler to come in place of Tom Curran, who didn't look at his best in the opening game. The Royals' bowling seems to be doing pretty well and on a surface that assists slower bowlers, keeping Curran out for a while looks to be the best option they have.
All in all, with Buttler back, their team will look a lot better and things are certainly going to be easy even for an in-form Kings XI Punjab unit. With RR and KXIP both looking to continue their winning run and add two more points to their account, we may witness a mouth-watering clash in Sharjah.
Weather Conditions
There is no chance of rain on the matchday so we could expect a full game of cricket without any interruption. The highest temperature will be around 38 degree C while the minimum temperature will be around 28 degree C. The wind will blow at a speed of 19 km/hr. The hot and humid weather will trouble the bowlers and batsman.
Pitch Report
This is the best batting wicket among all the three venues which are being used for this tournament. It is a flat wicket and Sharjah is a small ground which means we can expect one more run-fest on Sunday. Bowlers might look at places to hide as six-hitting is pretty easy at this ground. A total of 33 sixes were hit by both sides in the last game beween RR and CSK. It is tough for both the spinners and the pacers to bowl at this venue.
Toss Prediction
With dew likely to be a factor and a surface that is excellent to bat on, setting up a safe score could be rather tough at Sharjah. For that reason, we believe that the captain winning the toss should elect to field first.
Head-to-Head and Stats:
Head to head: Matches Played: 19
Rajasthan Royals 10
Kings XI Punjab: 9
RR has lost their only game against KXIP at this venue in 2014.
KXIP record at this venue: Played 2, Won 2.
Approaching Milestones
Samson is two hits away from 100 sixes in the IPL, and Maxwell is nine away from the landmark.
Buttler needs 97 more to get to 6000 T20 runs and 114 runs to complete 1500 IPL runs
KL Rahul needs 95 runs to complete 1500 IPL runs for KXIP.
Karun Nair needs 20 runs to complete 1500 IPL runs.
Likely XIs:
Rajasthan Royals: Steven Smith (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler (wk), Robin Uthappa, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, Tom Curran, Rahul Tewatia, Jaydev Unadkat
Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Glenn Maxwell, Sarfaraz Khan, Jimmy Neesham/Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Sheldon Cottrell, M Ashwin
Players to Watch Out For:
Rajasthan Royals: Steven Smith, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer
Kings XI Punjab: Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi
Match Odds:
Kings XI Punjab: 1.90
Rajashthan Royals: 1.90
SantaBanta's Winner Prediction: Kings XI Punjab
IPL 2020 Winner Live Odds:
Mumbai Indians - 4.5
Delhi Capitals - 5.5
Royal Challengers Bangalore - 6.5
Kolkata Knight Riders - 7
Rajasthan Royals - 8
Kings XI Punjab - 8
Chennai Super Kings - 8.5
Sunrisers Hyderabad - 11
Match Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium, UAE
Time: 7.30 PM IST
TV: Star Sports Network.
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar VIP
