Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings: Prediction & Preview. Who Will Conquer the Opening Battle of Their Campaign?

Except the first season of the IPL, Rajasthan Royals has failed to dominate in the tournament. However, they bagged some impact players in the recent auction. On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab will be participating in the tournament as Punjab Kings. Along with Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith are some of the best-buy of Punjab, in this season. Although, these teams have failed to make an impact in IPL, but in the new season of IPL, Both the team is looking forward to start their campaign with a bang. Whenever these two teams have clashed, the battle has always been eye pleasing. So, who’s gonna take the lead from the very first game of their campaign? Here’s our prediction of this game.

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Here is a tabular version of a list of bookmakers and odds, which give the outcome of this match.

Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings prediction

After analyzing the team combination, how the pitch will play, and their last match records. Our prediction is: Punjab Kings will win this game.

Punjab Kings Review

The team was quite strong in the previous year too, but because of some wrong decisions from their team management made the team lose in almost won games. However, this season they are going to learn from their past mistakes, and won’t display the same game as they did in 2020. The batting department is led by skipper K L Rahul along with the universe boss Chris Gayle. Having fire power like Nicholas Pooran and Dawid Malan, made the team look quite dominant. Whereas in the bowling department, Punjab Kings have Jhye Richardson, Mohammed Shami, and Ravi Bishnoi, who can decimate any team with their fatal bowling. They will come out with their best XI, in their first match against Rajasthan Royals. 

Rajasthan Royals Review

The champion of the first season is looking to make some impact in the 14th edition of IPL. They have elected Sanju Samson as the captain despite having experienced players like Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes. If we look at their team, they are lacking some firepowers in the middle order. However, their top order is all set to demolish any lethal bowling departments as they have Samson, Buttler, and Ben Stokes in the top three batters. How they tackle their middle muddle situation, will be a matter of concern for Rajasthan. They got Morris in the recent auction who will join Jofra Archer in the bowling department. So, how the first season champion is beginning their campaign, will be a matter of debate.

Head to Head Record

Both the teams have clashed in 21 events against each other, and Rajasthani’s are taking the lead here over the Punjab Kings. Here’s the H-2-H record between them.

• Total Matches: 21
• Punjab Wins: 9
• Rajasthan Wins: 12

Recent Performance of RR

Their last edition of IPL was not so promising as they failed to qualify for the playoffs. Their last five encounter results are given below.

W-L-W-W-L

Recent Performance of SRH

Punjab Kings lost most of the almost won games, and as a result they also couldn’t make themselves in the playoffs.

W-W-W-L-L

Probable XI of Kolkata Knight Riders

Sanju Samson ©, Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Stokes, Manan Vohra, Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, and Jaydev Unadkat.

Probable XI of Punjab Kings

Lokesh Rahul © (wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Dawid Malan, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Jhye Richardson, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, and Arshdeep Singh.

Venue Details, Records, Historical Facts

Both the teams will play their first game in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The team winning the toss will prefer to chase because the dew will come into the game in the 2nd innings.

• Stadium: Wankhede Stadium
• Location: Mumbai, India
• Opened: 1974
• Capacity: 33,100
• Known as: Wankhede
• Ends: Tata End, Garware Pavilion End
• Time Zone: UTC +05:30
• Home to: Mumbai Indians, Mumbai
• Floodlights: Yes