Having missed the playoff spot last year by a whisker, Rajasthan Royals and a renamed Punjab Kings have a lot to prove this time around. Both the teams have opted for a major overhaul in terms of backroom staff and players. In the last season before an expected shake-up of teams for 2022, Royals have decided to ring in the changes. A new captain in Sanju Samson, a new-look support staff, some new faces in the team. In IPL 2020, when Rajasthan finished last on the table, one of the biggest issues for them was the pace bowling department. Despite their dismal run, Archer did exceedingly well to bag the Most Valuable Player of the season award but he missed a dependable partner in the attack throughout. And looking at RR’s squad for IPL 2021, it seems they could struggle once again in this aspect.
Rajasthan will be banking heavily on their swashbuckling all-rounder Ben Stokes. Stokes will be keen to get some runs under his belt and so will be the likes of Englishman Jos Buttler and newly-appointed skipper Samson, who is a mine-field of talent. If there is one player that RR needs to be aware of it is KL Rahul -- the Karnatka lad has scored 390 runs at an average of 55.71 against Rajasthan. He has smashed four fifties with a best of 95 not out. Both the teams have a squad filled with stroke-makers who are in pursuit of a winning start to their IPL campaigns on Monday. Until the last season, Rajasthan have won 12 matches while Punjab have secured nine wins. However, last season, RR completed the league double over PBKS. They won the first encounter by four wickets. The second match saw RR win again by seven scalps. In bowling, RR will be without England fast bowler Jofra Archer, their top wicket-taker (20) last season who is recuperating from a thumb surgery.In Archer’s absence, Morris will have to take extra responsibility while a lot will depend on Jaydev Unadkat, rookie left-armer Chetan Sakariya and rookie pacer Kartik Tyagi.
Likey XI: Rajasthan Royals: Ben Stokes, Yashasvi Jaiswal/Manan Vohra, Sanju Samson (capt, wk), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Rahul Tewatia, Shreyas Gopal, Andrew Tye, Kartik Tyagi/Jaydev Unadkat
Punjab Kings: KL Rahul (capt, wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Moises Henriques, Shahrukh Khan, Jalaj Saxena/Saurabh Kumar, Riley Meredith, M Ashwin/Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami
