Match 32 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, between Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals, is going to be a battle for survival. With only three wins apiece, both sides are falling behind in the race for a spot in Playoffs. The scenario is worse for Punjab, who have played a game more. Hence, for them, Tuesday night's fixture at the Dubai International Stadium is almost a do-or-die encounter.
Punjab and Rajasthan had started the season with an epic game at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, in which K.L. Rahul's team managing to defend 221 despite Sanju Samson's sensational 119 on his captaincy debut. However, since then the performance graph had gone down significantly for both these underachievers of IPL.
It is time to start afresh.
Both sides have a plenty of forced international replacements. Rajasthan have particularly lost a a bit of their firepower as their much-fancied English trio – Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer – will not be a part of their squad in the UAE. To replace them, they have drafted in Tabraiz Shamsi, the No. 1 ranked T20I bowler in the world, along with Evin Lewis, Oshane Thomas and Glenn Phillips.
The Kings, meanwhile, have roped in Adil Rashid, who was the joint highest wicket-taker in the recently concluded Hundred, and can be quite effective on larger grounds like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Rashid, Aiden Markram and Nathan Ellis have replaced Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith and Dawid Malan.
Likely XIs
Punjab Kings: K.L. Rahul (c & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Shahrukh Khan, Adil Rashid, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Mohammed Shami
Rajasthan Royals: Evin Lewis, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Liam Livingstone, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Chetan Sakariya, Kartik Tyagi, Mustafizur Rahman
Betway fantasy tips
- Lewis and Livingstone are in red-hot form in recent white-ball matches. Back the duo to come good tonight.
- Mustafizur recently bowled exceptionally well against Australia and New Zealand in slow, low pitches in Bangladesh. His form may keep Shamsi out of the XI tonight. If that happens, pick Mustafizur in the fantasy team.
- Though Chris Gayle struggled in the recent CPL, expect Rahul to back him here in much better batting conditions. It will be interesting to see whether Gayle bats at his preferred position at the top, replacing one of Rahul and Mayank Agarwal.
Prediction
Punjab Kings look in much better shape going into this fixture.
Blitzpools fantasy XI
K.L. Rahul (c & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Evin Lewis, Riyan Parag, Liam Livingstone, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Mohammed Shami, Mustafizur Rahman (vc), Adil Rashid, Harpreet Brar.
