On paper, Rajasthan Royals looks like a very good team. They have Steven Smith, who has come back, as well as Ben Stokes. Kings XI Punjab have very good players as well – Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, Ravichandra Ashwin and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
However, Kings XI Punjab have never won the IPL. They came close to winning it once, when they reached the final, but lost to KKR. Rajasthan Royals won the inaugural season of the IPL and following that they have done precious little.
Yes, the Royals have been entertainers and have made it to the play-offs often, but never looked like a serious threat. This, despite the fact they have always had good overseas players.
The focus once again will be on Steven Smith, who returns to cricket after a one year ban. We don’t think Smith will ever be made captain again, but hopefully he rediscovers his batting form.
Remember, this time last year, he was considered to be a better batsman than even Virat Kohli. But Kohli has done so much last 12 months while Smith did nothing but cool his heels, waiting for the ban to get over.
Ajinkya Rahane, the captain of Royals will be another player under a lot of pressure. Rahane knows he has to perform and score quickly if he has to be considered seriously for the World Cup that’s coming up soon after the IPL.
Andrew Tye, the Kings XI pace bowler is still in Australia but will join in time for the second game, not for this match. David Miller won’t feature either, as he is a part of the South Africa team that is playing Sri Lanka.
Royals have a balanced team with a very good pace attack – Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni or Varun Aaron and three world class cricketers – Jos Buttler, Steven Smith and Ben Stokes. They will do well in this IPL.
The Teams
Rajasthan Royals: 1 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Steven Smith, 4 Sanju Samson, 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Rahul Tripathi 7 K Gowtham, 8 Shreyas Gopal, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Dhawal Kulkarni/Varun Aaron
Kings XI Punjab: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 KL Rahul (wk), 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Karun Nair, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Mandeep Singh, 7 R Ashwin (capt), 8. Sam Curran, 9 Ankit Rajpoot/Varun Chakravarthy, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Prediction: Although Kings XI have Chris Gayle, the Universe Boss, we think Rajasthan Royals have just too much firepower for them. Close win for the Royals.
