Rajasthan Royals will look to sort out their batting woes and bring their campaign back on track, while an inconsistent Punjab Kings will be eager to keep the winning momentum going in their IPL game on Saturday.
The Royals were at one point giving Gujarat Titans a strong fight for the top position but the former champions have recently faced minor hiccups. They enter the upcoming fixture with back-to-back losses including to eighth-place Kolkata Knight Riders and laggards Mumbai Indians.
Punjab Kings, on the other hand, will be high on confidence after inflicting a morale-boosting eight-wicket defeat on table-toppers GT. The Mayank Agarwal-led side will be eager to keep the winning momentum going as they try to get out of the mid-table logjam an inch closer to sealing a playoff spot.
Rajasthan are third on the points table, and it is mostly because of the flamboyant Jos Buttler. The Englishman is currently the league's leading scorer with 588 runs. Against Mumbai he waged a lone battle with the bat while he failed to capitalise on his start against KKR. Rajasthan lost both games.
On the other hand, The Punjab bating unit has been plagued by inconsistencies. The likes of Shikhar Dhawan, who has been the side's best batter, Liam Livinstone and Bhanuka Rajapaksa can tonk the ball, but they need to fire in unison to build or defend a huge total.
Jonny Bairstow has failed to play the explosive innings he is known for, while skipper Mayank Agarwal has also looked off colour and will be eager to be back among runs.
Match Details
Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals, Match No. 52
Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Date & Time: May 7th at 3:30 PM IST
Live Streaming: Star Sports Network, Star Gold and Disney+Hotstar
PBKS vs RR Dream 11 Prediction
Wicketkeepers: Jos Buttler (C), Sanju Samson
Batters: Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer, Bhanuka Rajapaksa
All-rounders: Ravichandran Ashwin, Liam Livingstone, Rishi Dhawan
Bowlers: Kagiso Rabad, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal (VC)
Captain: Jos Buttler
Vice-Captain: Yuzvendra Chahal
PBKS vs RR Probable Playing XI
Punjab Kings: Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Rishi Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Sandeep Sharma
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Karun Nair, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal
