In the Match 50 of the ongoing 13th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), KL Rahul-led Kings XI Punjab will square off with Steve Smith’s Rajasthan Royals in the second match between the two sides in this edition at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
KXIP are currently standing at the fourth place in the IPL 13 points table with six victories from 12 matches. Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, are languishing down at the seventh spot in the standings with five wins in hand.
The Punjab franchise will head into the match on the back of their five-match winning streak that saw them beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Mumbai Indians (MI), Delhi Capitals (DC), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
Rajasthan, meanwhile, are coming into the clash after registering a convincing eight-wicket triumph over Mumbai Indians, courtesy a sensational hundred from Ben Stokes and a fifty from Sanju Samson.
In the previous clash between the two sides this season, the Steve Smith-led team swept aside Punjab by four wickets at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on September 27.
KXIP will now look to settle the scores against RR with an eye on playoff berth, while Rajasthan will be keen to register yet another win over the Punjab team.
Talking about the head-to-head record between the two sides, Rajasthan Royals hold a slight edge over the Punjab franchise. The two sides have met each other in a total of 20 matches in the cash-rich league so far, with Rajasthan holding a 11-9 lead over KXIP.
As far as the two teams’ record at this venue is concerned, KXIp have won two out four matches in Abu Dhabi, while RR have clinched victories in five out of seven games at this venue.
Meanwhile, some of the players of the two sides will also look to achieve their individual milestones going into the clash.
KXIP skipper KL Rahul require 37 to complete 2,000 runs as wicketkeeper in the IPL, while batsmab Glenn Maxwell is just one run shy of reaching 1,500 runs in the lucrative T20 tournament.
Shreyas Gopal requires three wickets to reach 50 IPL wickets.
Sanju Samson, on the other hand, needs just two dismissals to complete 50 IPL dismissals (43 catches/5 stumpings) for his franchise Rajasthan Royals.
When to watch?
The match between KXIP vs RR will kickstart at 7.30 p.m IST in the absence of fans amid COVID-19 pandemic.
Where to watch?
The match will be telecast on Star Sports Network, while the live streaming of the tie will also be available on Star’s streaming application Hotstar.
KXIP vs RR, Dream11 Team Prediction:
Wicketkeeper: KL Rahul (captain)
Batsmen: Sanju Samson, Chris Gayle, Jos Buttler, Mandeep Singh, Ben Stokes
All-rounders: Rahul Tewatia
Bowlers: Mohammed Shami,Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Jofra Archer
Probable XIs:
Kings XI Punjab Probable XI: KL Rahul (C, wk), Mandeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda/Mayank Agarwal, Chris Jordan, M Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami
Rajasthan Royals Probable XI: Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith (C), Sanju Samson (wk), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot/Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi
SQUADS:
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson (wk), Andrew Tye, Kartik Tyagi, Steven Smith (c), Ankit Rajpoot, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Mahipal Lomror, Oshane Thomas, Riyan Parag, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, Akash Singh, David Miller, Manan Vohra, Shashank Singh, Varun Aaron, Tom Curran, Robin Uthappa, Aniruddha Joshi, Jofra Archer
fm Lokesh Rahul, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel, Mandeep Singh, James Neesham, Tajinder Singh, Chris Jordan, Karun Nair, Deepak Hooda, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Glenn Maxwell, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sarfaraz Khan, Sheldon Cottrell, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami, Darshan Nalkande, Nicholas Pooran, Chris Gayle, Murugan Ashwin, Jagadeesha Suchith, Krishnappa Gowtham, Hardus Viljoen, Simran Singh