Injuries also hampered the visitors RR with experienced duo of Jos Buttler and Ravichandran Ashwin not available for the game today
Rajasthan Royals (RR) won the toss in match 27 of the Indian Premier League 2024 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) and opted to bowl first at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur in Chandigarh on Saturday. (Follow Live | Full IPL Coverage | More Cricket News)
Punjab Kings will be led by Sam Curran with the regular skipper Shikhar Dhawan out with a niggle. Injuries also hampered the visitors RR with experienced duo of Jos Buttler and Ravichandran Ashwin not available for the game today.
Liam Livingstone is also making his comeback to the Punjab side after missing the last two games.
Here are the playing XIs for both the sides.
Punjab Kings: Jonny Bairstow, Atharva Taide, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran(c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (wk/c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Sen, Yuzvendra Chahal
The Royals had an excellent chance to register their fifth win on the trot and consolidate their totem pole position, but Rashid Khan’s daring assault helped Gujarat Titans snatch a last-ball victory on Wednesday.
It might have come as a rude shock for the Royals at Fort Jaipur, and as such, they would want to treat it as an aberration and dish out a more refined outing against the Punjab side.
PBKS have blown hot and cold so far in the tournament, winning two and losing three out of five matches. The primary reason for their middling run this year is the patchy form of their fancied batsmen as Punjab relied on cameos by uncapped Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma to boost their batting.
Opener Jonny Bairstow (5 matches, 81 runs) and middle-order batter Jitesh Sharma (5 matches, 77 runs) are the most underwhelming of the lot, and it has robbed them of momentum upfront and in the business end of their innings.
RR are at the top of the table with four wins and just one loss while PBKS are third from bottom with two wins and three defeats.