Race for playoff spot heats up as RR, PBKS brace themselves for high-octane clash

With the team Rajasthan Royals (RR) have at their disposal, they should have ideally sealed a place in the playoffs by now. After having the luxury of picking up 12 points from their first eight games, they perhaps had a hiccup or two along the way and those came in the form of crushing defeats at the hands of Mumbai Indians (MI) and most recently against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). 

Punjab Kings (PBKS), on the other hand, have been one of the most inconsistent teams in the tournament so far. They are yet to register back-to-back wins, but with a win over RR, not only would they do it for the first time, but give them a chance to be in contention for a place in the top four.

One of the main reasons for that has been the underwhelming performance of Trent Boult. After playing the first four games, Boult missed the game against Gujarat Titans (GT) due to a niggle. He has been a completely different bowler since then.

He picked up seven wickets at 16.6 from his first four matches, which includes an economy rate of 7.3 and a strike rate of 13.7. However, since his return, he has managed just a couple of wickets at 83, at an economy rate of 9.2 and a strike rate of 54, which are numbers you do not want to see from your strike bowler.

As a bowler who bowls most of his overs in the powerplay, Boult, who conceded well under six before his injury break, has conceded at 7.3 since his return. The likes of Prasidh Krishna and Yuzvendra Chahal, and others can only do so much to keep their side in the game, but they also need Boult firing all cylinders for RR to stay afloat.

In his first four matches, Boult tasted a lot of success bowling full (2-6m), picking up four out of the seven wickets, bowling over 36% of his wickets bowling in that area.

However, since his return from injury, Boult has pulled his back a little, bowling more than 67% of his deliveries in the good length and back of a length area (6-10m), while in the areas which brought him success in his first four games, he bowled just 25% of his deliveries. 

With Boult able to get some swing especially early on – into the right-hander and away from the left – it would certainly behove him if he pitches the ball further up than he has done in the last few matches.

He could be encouraged by the fact that PBKS have two left-handers in their top three, against whom he has picked up six wickets at 15.8 this season.

In the batting department, it is Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson who will hold the key for RR. While Buttler has been in top form the entire season, his record at the Wankhede too is quite phenomenal. Overall, he has scored 698 runs at a strike rate of 147 at this venue and moreover, among all the teams he has faced in the IPL, his 386 runs against Punjab is his second-best aggregate.

Samson, on the other hand, has been severe on the spinners scoring at 179 against them, with only Glenn Maxwell striking at a better rate (Min: 50 runs). He has also hit the most number of sixes against them. In fact, In terms of strike rate, this is the best season Samson has had against spinners.

Sanju Samson's shot zone against spinner in IPL 2022

On the Punjab front, a lot will depend on the way Shikhar Dhawan and Kagiso Rabada go about their business. Dhawan has been among the most consistent batters in the IPL for the last 2 to 3 seasons and at the Wankhede Stadium, he has four scores in excess of 40 since 2019. However, the contest against Ravichandran Ashwin and Chahal will be crucial given that the duo have dismissed him six times between them in T20 cricket.

Speaking of contests, PBKS skipper Mayank Agarwal, who has been struggling for runs has not fared well against the RR spin duo either. Mayank has scored a combined 133 runs against them and has been dismissed on nine occasions in 17 innings. With Mayank now set to bat in the middle order, there are high chances that his record against them could worsen.

After a poor 2021 season, Rabada has bounced back incredibly well in this edition, picking up 17 wickets at a staggering strike rate of 11.6. He is among just three bowlers to have picked up at least three wickets in each phase this season. The South Africa pacer has also been deadly against right-handers having picked up 14 of his 17 wickets against them.

He could be quite a handful against RR, who have four right-handers in their top six, with Padikkal and Shimron Hetmyer being the exception.

With attacking players at both sides’ disposal, it promises to be a high-octane clash, with a chance of a high-scoring contest. A win for PBKS will see them go straight to fourth from eighth place, while RR can draw level with Lucknow at 14 points and give them some breathing space in the race to the top four. 

Probable XIs:

Punjab Kings

Punjab got the job done against table-toppers GT in their previous game and are most likely to stick to the same XI for this encounter too.

Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Rishi Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Sandeep Sharma

Rajasthan Royals

The Royals have more of a settled unit and despite going down to a struggling KKR unit, they will mostly continue to back the same XI.

Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Karun Nair, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen