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Kings XI Punjab are set to visit the Royals den for the fourth fixture of IPL 2019 against Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Monday, March 25.
Head to Head Overall Stats: Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab have clashed in 17 IPL games and the Jaipur boys lead by claiming honours in ten games.
Head to Head at Sawai Mansingh Stadium: The Sawai Mansingh Stadium hosted Punjab in seven league games and has favoured the hosts Rajasthan Royals in five games.
Pitch Report: The Jaipur pitch usually considered to be a batting paradise, but it pacy wicket might assist the seamers in the early overs.
Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals had a rollercoaster ride in the 2018 campaign, they lost six out of their first nine games, but came back strongly in the second half by winning four out of remaining six games to seal their playoffs berth.
Batting
Key Players - Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson & Ajinkya Rahane
Jos Buttler was the most prominent player for the orange cap last year, but was deprived of it after being called for national duties. The batsman amassed 548 runs in his 13 outings at an average of 54.80 and the team will need him to continue this season in a similar manner. The return of Steve Smith will boost their confidence even further, though he been away form cricket for a while, but the former skipper will be eager to make a strong statement on the ground.
Sanju Samson and skipper Ajinkya Rahane were teams' next best batters with 441 and 370 runs and the team will mostly depend on these two in case Buttler had an off day.
Meanwhile, to reduce the dependency on above three, the Royals have added Liam Livingston and Aston Turner in their squad. Where Livingstone (321 runs) is coming off an impressive show in PSL 2019, Turner (378 runs) was in good touch for his side Perth Scorchers in BBL 2018-19 and one of these two is likely to get a nod for the upcoming fixture.
Bowling
Key Players - Jofra Archer, Jaydev Udankat & Krishnappa Gowtham
Rajasthan batting will mostly depend on the trio of Jofra Archer, Jaydev Udankat and Krishnappa Gowtham. Archer led the RR's 2018 bowling charts with 15 wickets, while Gowtham followed him by claiming 11 wickets and these two will be expected to attain few scalps early.
Meanwhile, Udankat once again became their most expensive buy of 2019, the bowler was released by the franchisee before the auctions, but went on to empty their purse for securing his services later. The bowler was in good touch during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Saurashtra and claimed 15 wickets in just five games.
Expected Playing XI
Ajinkya Rahane (C), Jos Buttler, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Steve Smith, Liam Livingstone/Ashton Turner, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aaron and Dhawal Kulkarni.
Kings XI Punjab
On the flipside, the men from Punjab were the victims of throwing away all the initial advantage garnered by teams good work in the first half. At the end of first half, KXIP were dominating the points table by securing six wins out of seven games, but witnessed a devastating turnaround in the second half by managing just one win out of their remaining seven fixtures and were eventually knocked out of the tournament after finishing on seventh spot.
Batting
Key Players - Chris Gayle, KL Rahul & Nicholas Pooran
Chris Gayle's presence in any side is enough to send jitters in the opponents camp. The Caribbean was team's second best batsman last season with 368 runs and was in supreme form during his recent ODI series against England and scored 424 runs in four outings including two fifties and two hundreds.
KL Rahul was team's star performer last year and ended as tournament's third highest run-getter with 659 runs and he will be eager to replicate his show here. While Nicholas Pooran and Prabhsimran Singh were lions latest edition to the squad, and the team will need them to come out with their on this occasion.
Bowling
Key Players - Andrew Tye, Mujeeb ur Rahman & Mohammad Shami
Andrew Tye was the best bowler of the season with 24 wickets and the purple cap winner will look to continue his stellar run this year. He will be joined by Mohammad Shami in the pace department, and these two will be skipper's go to men during slog overs.
The team also boasts a qualify spin unit in Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ravichandran Ashwin and Varun Chakravarthy, with all of them capable of claiming wickets, it's not going to be a cakewalk for the opponents.
Expected Playing XI
Ravichandran Ashwin (C), Varun Chakravarthy, Mohammed Shami, Andrew Tye, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Karun Nair, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh and Prabhsimran Singh.
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