RR vs PBKS: Teams of Lokesh Rahul, Punjab Kings and Sanju Samson, led by Royals, will start their campaign on Monday in the 14th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with the intention of winning. batter present on both teams.
The team will rely heavily on the aggressive English all-rounder Stokes. Stokes will try to keep up, while England’s Jose Butler and newly appointed captain Samson will also make a good start. The Royals team can open innings with the talented Yashasvi Goswal and Butler, while the cricketers can hit at number three. Stokes will enhance the intermediate order. If all four of them play to the beat, then they are able to destroy any bowling order. Punjab’s batting order will also be dangerous for any opposing team in the favorable image of Wankhede’s batting.
The Royals also have more options in the form of SUVs Shivam Dubey, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Ryan Parag and Liam Livingstone. Gopal, Teotia and Parag turn their legs too and it will be exciting to see if the Royals team lands on two spinning legs. Tewatia and Dubey have the ability to play great shots and their selection in Game XI is almost certain.
The points will lead the Royals’ swift bowling attack by Jofra Archer at Garamau Aurigi, which the team bought at a players auction this year for a whopping Rs 16 crore 25 lakh. The Royals will have to focus on their combination, as they only play against four foreign players in Game XI. It remains to be seen whether the team chooses fast pitcher Mustafizur Rahman or between Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi and Chetan Sakaria.
Punjab, on the other hand, has aggressive hitters such as Rahul (670 runs in the 2020 season), Mayank Agarwal (424 runs in the 2020 season) and Christian Gayle. Rahul and Aggarwal formed a strong opening pair in 2020 and the pair is expected to remain intact. The team has good Hillary like David Malan from England, M Shah Rukh Khan from TN and Nicholas Pooran from West Indies. The team simply needs to maintain their correct combination.
Shah Rukh can have preference over players like Deepak Hooda and Sarfaraz Khan and can play the role of finalists in the team. The team’s bowling attack will be led by Muhammad Shami, who performed brilliantly the previous season. The team’s fast bowling attack has been bolstered by contracts with Australians Zhai Richardson and Riley Meredith. The team also features Chris Jordan. However, it remains to be seen if Shami will have a chance to handle the new ball. In the effects department, the team has bowlers like Murugan Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi.
Resident Royals: Sanju Balan (Captain), Jose Butler, Ben Stokes, Yashasvi Goswal, Manan Vohra, Anuj Rawat, Ryan Parag, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Shreyas Gopal, Mayank Markande, Uday Tye, Jaydev Unadkat , Shankar, Shivam Dubey, Krist Maurice, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakaria, KC Kariyappa, Liam Livingstone, Kuldeep Yadav, and Akash Singh.
Kings of Punjab: Lokesh Rahul (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Prabhasimran Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Jashoi, Harpreet Brar, Muhammad Shami, Arshadip Singh, Ishaan Porel, Novel The Italians Jordan, David Malan, Zay Richardson, Shah Rukh Khan, Riley Meredith, Moises Henriques, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Fabian Allen and Saurabh Kumar.
