3 player battles to watch out for in PBKS vs RR, Match 18 of IPL 2025 ft. Sanju Samson

The 18th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 will see the Punjab Kings (PBKS) host the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Saturday, April 5, in Mullanpur. This will be Punjab's first home game of the season.

PBKS have got off to an excellent start to this year's IPL, winning both their games so far. They are currently at the top of the standings with four points in two matches and an NRR of +1.485.

RR, on the other hand, have won only one out of three matches and find themselves ninth on the points table. They lost two matches on the trot to start their campaign before beating the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in a close game to register their maiden win of IPL 2025.

Punjab will look to continue their winning momentum and strengthen their position at the top of the table, while RR will look to move up in the standings with a victory tonight. With both teams vying for a win, an exciting contest beckons fans, which will also present some interesting matchups.

On that note, let's look at three interesting player battles to watch out for.

---

3 player battles to watch out for in PBKS vs RR, Match 18 of IPL 2025

#1 Sanju Samson vs Yuzvendra Chahal

The RR regular skipper smashed a quickfire half-century (37-ball 66) in Rajasthan's opening game against the SunRisers Hyderabad. However, his form has seen a sharp decline since then, as Sanju Samson has failed to convert starts into big knocks.

Samson will look to put that behind him and play a match-winning knock against PBKS. However, the right-handed batter will be wary of the Yuzvendra Chahal threat. The veteran leg spinner has dismissed the Kerala-born cricketer five times in T20s, while the latter has managed to score only 52 runs off 51 deliveries.

Expect Chahal to bowl in the powerplay tonight, and his duel with Samson will be an interesting one to watch.

---

#2 Sandeep Sharma vs PBKS batters

The Rajasthan bowler has gotten better over time, and his ability to nail the yorkers and bowl slower deliveries at the right line and length makes him a rare species. As a result, he was retained by RR ahead of the mega-auction.

Sandeep Sharma will be Samson's go-to bowler against PBKS, given his excellent record against their batters. He has dismissed Shreyas Iyer, Marcus Stoinis, and Glenn Maxwell seven times in 18 innings, while their strike rate against Sharma is also on the lower side (via Cricbuzz).

Thus, Punjab batters will be wary of the Sandeep Sharma threat and have to plan accordingly if they want to continue their run-scoring spree in IPL 2025.

---

#3 Marcus Stoinis vs Yashasvi Jaiswal

Yashasvi Jaiswal has had a disastrous IPL 2025 campaign so far, scoring only 34 runs in three innings so far. The young left-handed batter will be under the pump of producing runs after being retained by the franchise for a whopping ₹18 crore.

However, Jaiswal will have to negate the Marcus Stonis threat if he has to score big tonight. The Aussie all-rounder has dismissed the RR opener three times in 15 deliveries while conceding only 15 runs.

PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer will be tempted to throw the ball to Stoinis inside the powerplay and try to get Jaiswal out as early as possible.