IPL 2018 - Match 40 - RR vs KXIP Preview

Just yesterday, Rajasthan Royals played Kings XI Punjab at Indore, and the latter walked away with an easy 6-wicket win. What that result did was it put Punjab back in the top three while Rajasthan plummeted to the bottom of the IPL 2018 points table. Now, RR are in such a position that they need to win all of their remaining games in order to qualify but playing a team that beat you just a day back isn’t the perfect confidence booster.

Not many would know why Rajasthan are losing when they have some of the most expensive players in the Indian Premier League. Ben Stokes was purchased for 12.5 crore while Unadkat was bought for 11.5 crore, but none have been able to prove their worth. Punjab on the other hand is full of in-form players like Gayle, Mayank, Rahul, Karun and others.

Teams

One major positive I see in the Rajasthan team is the opening pair of Jos Buttler and Ajinkya Rahane. After a series of low scores, Buttler was finally able to deliver, scoring two fifties in two innings after being promoted to the top of the order. If he and Rahane, who will play the anchor role, can put together a good opening stand, the team’s chances become considerably higher.

However, those who have been under-performing in IPL 2018 are the likes of Stokes and Short, who were heavily paid for and they haven’t been able to score a single fifty between the two as yet, while Stokes has also only managed 2 wickets. However, they aren’t a bad squad and I don’t see them losing too many in a row. They have their work set out now – win every match. If not, expect them to win a few and ruin the party for the others.

Looking at the Kings XI, they just seem to be having a much better season than they have in years. That opening pair of Gayle and Rahul have been consistently scoring 50+ opening partnerships and they failed for the first time in the last game, even though Rahul eventually went on to win them the game. However, they do have issues as well. A middle order consisting of a non-contributing Mayank Agarwal, Yuvraj Singh & Manoj Tiwary is an issue they need to fix before the crucial games begin.

The bowling is looking good, with the tall and skiddy Ankit Rajpoot able to bounce out some of the best batsmen and the 17-year old Mujeeb now in the top wicket takers list, picking up 12 in 9 games so far. The key for KXIP is going to be their batting though. The opening pair has scored over 50% of the team’s runs so far and if they fail, weaknesses could be exposed. Similarly, exposing those weaknesses would be RR’s key to success.

Overall

7 wickets in 3 games is what Jofra Archer has in his first edition of the Indian Premier League but he isn’t able to have as much of an impact as he was having on Big Bash games a few months back. Probably not the best captaincy from Ajinkya Rahane. Rajasthan leads the H2H count 9-6, but I’m expecting Punjab to win again and better that record.

IPL 2018 – Match 40 – Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab Preview

Teams

Overall

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