Inconsistent Rajasthan Royals must get past red-hot Kings XI Punjab to stay alive
The Kings XI have five wins on the trot, while the Royals are in a do-or-die situation
Debayan Sen
29-Oct-2020
Big picture
When the Kings XI Punjab met the Rajasthan Royals the first time this season a little over a month back, we witnessed one of the games of the tournament, but Steven Smith and his men go into Friday's return fixture in Abu Dhabi knowing nothing less than a win will keep their campaign alive. Their confidence should be high after a magnificent chase against the Mumbai Indians, riding on the back of a Ben Stokes century. However, unlike their last meeting, this time they run into a red-hot side that brought up their fifth successive win after beating the Kolkata Knight Riders earlier this week.
While Stokes' century and Sanju Samson's return to form were huge positives for the Royals in their last game, what will worry Smith most is their bowling. Already over-dependent on Jofra Archer, the Royals have the worst economy (12.40) at the death among all teams in this tournament.
Getting their act together with the ball will be crucial against the Kings XI, for whom Chris Gayle's inclusion has provided the middle order some stability. That apart, the Kings XI also enjoy the cushion provided by KL Rahul and Nicholas Pooran on either side of Gayle. The Kings XI line-up has missed Mayank Agarwal through injury in the last couple of matches, and his return might see him slot in to open alongside Rahul, in which case Mandeep Singh could drop down the order and replace Deepak Hooda. Their bowling has had a settled look in recent games, with Mohammed Shami leading the attack, allowing legspinners M Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi to come on when the opposition batsmen are already under a fair amount of pressure.
Previous meeting
Agarwal (106) and Rahul (69) shared a 183-run opening stand to power the Kings XI to an imposing 223 for 2, but the Royals' reply was spearheaded by Smith, who smashed 50 off 27 balls as an opener to get some momentum going. Samson made a jaw-dropping 85 from 42, clobbering seven sixes and four fours, but his wicket in the 17th over appeared to put the Kings XI ahead. That's when Rahul Tewatia, who had limped to 5 off 13, took the attack to Sheldon Cottrell to complete one of the great comebacks in an individual innings, helping the Royals nail the highest successful IPL chase.
Likely XIs
Kings XI Punjab: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 KL Rahul (capt, wk), 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Mandeep Singh/ Deepak Hooda, 7 Chris Jordan, 8 M Ashwin, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Ravi Bishnoi, 11 Arshdeep Singh
Rajasthan Royals: 1 Ben Stokes, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Sanju Samson, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Jos Buttler (wk), 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Shreyas Gopal, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Ankit Rajpoot/ Varun Aaron/ Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Kartik Tyagi