Punjab eye playoff spot as RR seek pride in final home game

Jaipur: Punjab Kings will look to renew their bid for a playoff berth with another commanding performance here on Sunday against Rajasthan Royals, who have failed to rise above mediocrity despite possessing the resources this season.

As action returns to the Sawai Mansingh stadium after a week-long enforced break, Shreyas Iyer's side will hope to move past the nightmare on May 8, when their match against Delhi Capitals in scenic Dharamsala had to be called off due to India-Pakistan border tensions, forcing the players to return to their dressing rooms in pitch darkness.

As PBKS take the field on Sunday, comfortably placed at third spot on the table with 15 points from 11 games, there would be some scepticism with regard to the changes in the lineup owning to the enforced break.

Though Australians Marcus Stonis and Josh Inglis have agreed to rejoin the team, they would be missing PBKS' first game post IPL resumption, forcing the Punjab side to potentially rejigs their batting order.

The absence of the tall South African pacer Marco Jansen, who has been called back by Cricket South Africa, would hurt Shreyas' side the most as he had made quite an impact this season, scalping 11 wickets.

However, the fact that PBKS have a strong Indian core, including their skipper Shreyas, opener batter Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh and Nehal Wadhera, the side has come out relatively unscathed from the exodus of foreign players following the Indo-Pakistan tensions.

On the bowling front too, PBKS have the services of frontline pacer Arshdeep Singh and in-form spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who has so far taken 14 wickets in 11 games with a best of 4/28 and an economy rate of below-10.

With New Zealand pacer Kyle Jamieson coming in place of the injured Lockie Ferguson, PBKS could well stitch together a well-balanced unit for the game against RR before Stoinis and Inglis join in from the next game onwards.

PBKS will once again rely heavily on their batters, who were on the verge of decimating the Delhi Capitals bowlers in Dharamsala, racing to 122 for one in just 10.1 overs, before the game was abandoned.

That display should give them enough confidence required against a down-and-out Royals.

The hosts have already been eliminated from the playoff race and currently languish in ninth place on the points table with just three wins from 12 matches.

The crestfallen Royals will hope to bow out on a high in front of their home fans, but for that, they will have to lift themselves from a slump, having lost four of their last five games.

Fourteen-year-old sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s stunning 35-ball century was a rare moment of magic, but the Royals cannot rely on such individual brilliance every time.

The absence of regular captain Sanju Samson, who has missed most of the season due to injury, has left a massive void in their batting lineup. While Suryavanshi’s heroics provided a brief spark, the team has struggled to build consistent momentum.

The batting burden now rests heavily on Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag, and the duo will need to deliver if the Royals are to spring a surprise in their final home fixture.

Their bowling attack, too, has taken a hit, with express pacer Jofra Archer opting not to return for the remaining two matches, further thinning an already struggling unit.

Teams: Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c, wk), Ashok Sharma, Nandre Burger, Tushar Deshpande, Shubham Dubey, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Riyan Parag, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Kunal Singh Rathore, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Maheesh Theekshana, Yudhvir Singh.

Punjab Kings: Shreyas Iyer (c), Arshdeep Singh, Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash, Azmatullah Omarzai, Xavier Bartlett, Yuzvendra Chahal, Praveen Dubey, Aaron Hardie, Harnoor Singh, Harpreet Brar, Josh Inglis, Kyle Jamieson, Marco Jansen, Musheer Khan, Mitchell Owen, Prabhsimran Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Nehal Wadhera, Yash Thakur.

Match starts at 3:30 pm IST.