What

Less than 48 hours since they came up against each other, the Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab will meet once again – this time in Match 40 of VIVO IPL 2018.

In the match played in Indore on Sunday night, KXIP prevailed after they chased down a modest target of 153, to win by 6 wickets. With the win in that match, KXIP have 12 points and sit third in table, while Rajasthan Royals continue to occupy the floor of the eight-team standings.

RR, who now have three wins from 9 matches, quickly need to start piling on the wins if they want to nurture any ambitions of making the playoffs. The Royals’ players and backroom staff will be disappointed with the insipid performance of their batsmen in the previous match. Barring Jos Buttler’s 51 at the top, there was little else of note from a talented and experienced line-up of batsmen; other than the opener’s 51 off 39 balls and Shreyas Gopal’s 24 from 16 balls at the end, the seven batsmen in the middle only contributed 63 runs from 58 balls.

KXIP don’t have too many glaring problems. Ashwin’s captaincy has been excellent, though he’d like a few more wickets against his name. KXIP should resist tinkering with their batting order, and let batsmen play in positions they’re used to playing at.

When

8 May 2018, 2000Hrs (IST)

Where

Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

Impact Batsmen

Jos Buttler, who has now scored back-to-back half-centuries, Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson are the important batsmen in the Rajasthan Royals batting line-up. Buttler is a go-getter; his strike-rate of 148.75 is the best among all Royals batsmen this season. Captain Rahane has batted well this season, yet he will be disappointed that he doesn’t have more than one half-century against his name; with the stakes becoming higher, RR need their captain to contribute big runs. Samson is RR’s top run-scorer this season; the 23-year old has looked good while at the crease. Since the match-winning unbeaten 92 against RCB though, he has gone off the boil somewhat, scoring a total of 132 runs in his next six innings. RR now need Samson to rediscover the form and consistency that one saw from him in the first fortnight of the season.

Between the two of them, KL Rahul and Chris Gayle have contributed close to half the runs scored by the KXIP batsmen this season. Except the previous match against RR, the duo had provided seen the team off to solid starts every time.

Speaking in front of the cameras for iplt20.com after his match-winning 84 in the previous match, Rahul said he had reflected on his performance during the one-week break, realised he was not converting his starts, and wanted to change that. “I want to get as many runs as I can in the powerplay. I think I haven’t converted those starts into big runs for the team; as an opening batsman that’s what is crucial. If you get off to a good start, even if you get the run rate down a bit in the middle overs, if you are set till the end you can do the most damage. That’s what I learned from the first leg (of the tournament) before we broke off for eight days.”

Impact Bowlers

In his few appearances for the Rajasthan Royals this season, Jofra Archer has lived up to his billing as an exciting bowler. The 23-year old is zippy with the ball, is smart – as was established by his dismissal of Gayle the other night, and can dish out yorkers pretty much on call.

Mujeeb ur Rahman and Andrew Tye have been the stand-out bowlers for KXIP – and that’s not only because of them being the joint-highest wicket-takers for the team. Batsmen have found Mujeeb’s element of mystery hard to decipher, while Tye’s unpredictability has caused the downfall of many a batsmen. Speaking to iplt20.com, Tye gave an insight into his plans; he said, “There is no set plan; I be as random as I can because, if you get too predictable in T20 cricket that’s where things can go a bit pear-shaped.”

Team Head to Head

Overall: Matches – 16, Rajasthan Royals won – 9, Kings XI Punjab won – 7

At the Sawai Mansingh Stadium: Matches –4, Rajasthan Royals won – 4, Kings XI Punjab won –0

Trivia

The Rajasthan Royals captain Ajinkya Rahane has won only 2 tosses (out of 9 matches) this season.

The average first innings total in the 4 VIVO IPL 2018 matches at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium is  158.

What Next

The Rajasthan Royals will stay put at home and play host to the Chennai Super Kings on May 11. Kings XI Punjab meanwhile head to back to Indore and play host to Kolkata Knight Riders on May 12.