Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) will be looking to extend their winning run they take on Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Match 50 of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
KXIP are coming into this game on the back of their five-match winning streak, where they beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Mumbai Indians (MI), Delhi Capitals (DC), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The KL Rahul-led unit, which now has 6 wins to their name from 12 matches, is now in with a chance to seal a playoff spot.
Coming to RR, they have registered 5 wins from 12 games, the latest being their convincing eight-wicket win against MI on the back of a sensational hundred from Ben Stokes and a fine half-century from Sanju Samson.
The addition of Chris Gayle has turned the fortunes of KXIP around. They are now the most dangerous team in the middle-order because Chris Gayle is hitting sixes against the spinners with ease. Nicholas Pooran too has made it a habit and playing aggressively straight from the first ball he faces. This means that KXXIP now has one of the strongest batting lineups in the entire competition.
In fact, Mayank Aggarwal has not played in the previous two matches, and with Mandeep Singh scoring runs in the previous match, it may be Deepak Hooda that has to make way when he returns. Lokesh Rahul is continuing with his fantastic batting form in T20 cricket and looks far and away the best batsman of IPL 2020.
Perhaps, the one area in which KXIP has really improved is their middle and death overs bowling. Mohammad Shami attacks upfront, Arshdeep Singh and Chris Jordan take care of the death overs, while Ravi Bishnoi and M Ashwin keep things tight in the middle.
This is a bowling attack that lines up nicely against the Rajasthan Royals in our opinion.
KXIP is in great form and is currently boasting of a very well-balanced lineup. They will only get stronger as Mayank Aggarwal returns and whenever Glenn Maxwell hits some batting form.
Ben Stokes played an absolutely brilliant inning for a century against the Mumbai Indians. That was a world-class bowling attack that he took apart with ease. Sanju Samson also finally regained some form and played a measured inning of 54 with three sixes in there as well. Robin Uthappa seems set to continue at the top of the order, not a bad thing at all, and Steve Smith promoted himself to 3. That, in our opinion, is the right place for him to bat. It gives the middle-order some depth and some serious six-hitting ability as Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler can take any bowling lineup apart.
Add Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, and Jofra Archer to the mix and you have a pretty long batting lineup. RR can match KXIP in the batting but the bowling is where things get a bit tough for them.
Jofra Archer continues to pick up early wickets and makes RR a much more effective team than they actually are. Unfortunately, Ankit Rajpoot or Kartik Tyagi is not even in the same universe as Archer. The pressure drops when either of these two pacers comes on to bowl and scoring opportunities start appearing.
Shreyas Gopal and Rahul Tewatia have been decent without being outstanding in the middle. This lineup is going to be tested against the KXIP lineup for sure, especially if Archer does not get any early wickets.
Weather Forecast
The temperature is expected to be around 30-28 degrees during the match. The forecast shows no chance of rain. The humidity will be around 40-50 per cent and the wind speed around 16 kmph.
Pitch Report
Abu Dhabi has remained a venue where runs have been scored consistently. Close to 400 runs were scored in the most recent match between RR and MI played there. It appears as if there is some dew that helps make conditions for the team batting second a bit better. There has been some extra bounce in the surface at Abu Dhabi which may suit fast bowlers. A score of 175+ seems to par for the surface.
Toss Prediction
The team that wins the toss is going to want to chase. Both KXIP and RR have done very well chasing recently and so they will want to continue doing the same if given the choice. The conditions also seem to suggest that the chasing team has an advantage.
Stats and Facts
Head to head: Matches Played: 20
Rajasthan Royals 11
Kings XI Punjab: 9
Approaching Milestones:
KL Rahul needs 5 runs to complete 600 runs this IPL season. He is also 37 runs away from completing 2000 IPL runs as wicketkeeper.
Glenn Maxwell requires 1 run to complete 1500 IPL runs.
Shreyas Gopal needs 3 wickets to complete 50 IPL wickets.
Pooran needs two sixes to bring up 200 sixes in T20 cricket.
Gayle requires seven maximums to bring up 1000 T20 sixes.
Sanju Samson requires 2 dismissals to complete 50 IPL dismissals (43 catches/5 stumpings) for Rajasthan Royals.
Likely XIs:
Kings XI Punjab: Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (capt, wk), Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Mandeep Singh/ Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, M Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh
Rajasthan Royals: Ben Stokes, Robin Uthappa, Sanju Samson, Steven Smith (capt), Jos Buttler (wk), Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, Ankit Rajpoot/ Varun Aaron/ Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi
Players to Watch Out For:
Kings XI Punjab: Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Mohammed Shami
Rajasthan Royals: Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson, Steven Smith, Jos Buttler, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer
Match Odds:
Kings XI Punjab: 1.80
Rajasthan Royals: 2.0
SantaBanta's Winner Prediction: Kings XI Punjab
IPL 2020 Winner Live Odds
Mumbai Indians - 2.375
Royal Challengers Bangalore - 4
Delhi Capitals - 5.25
Kings XI Punjab - 5.75
Kolkata Knight Riders - 26
Sunrisers Hyderabad - 26
Rajasthan Royals - 34
Match Venue: Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Time: 7.30 PM IST
TV: Star Sports Network
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar VIP
