RR v PBKS, IPL 2021 – Fan2Play Fantasy Cricket Tips, Prediction and Playing XI

Match Details

Rajasthan Royals take on Punjab Kings in match number four of the 2021 season of the IPL and it will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on the 12th of April, 2021. The match will commence at 7:30 PM IST and it will be telecasted on the Stars Sports. Hotstar will be streaming the game live as well.

Preview

Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings are the last two teams to get off the blocks in this 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). These are two teams that have struggled for consistency for a long time now.

Rajasthan Royals may have won the inaugural edition of the IPL but since then, consistency has eluded them. Apart from that title-winning season in 2008, RR have made it to the top four only on three other occasions. Moreover, in the last two seasons, they have arguably been one of the worst-performing sides. They just about managed to finish second-last in 2019 (due to a better net run rate) but couldn’t avoid the wooden spoon finish in 2020 despite winning their first two games.

However, this time around, things look a little different for Rajasthan. They have a new captain in Sanju Samson whose captaincy style brings a lot of flair and exuberance. Also, like Kerala did under his captaincy earlier this year, RR are expected to play an aggressive brand of cricket. Jofra Archer’s absence for the first few matches is a massive blow but with the inclusion of Chris Morris and Mustafizur Rahman to complement Andrew Tye who was already in the squad goes a long way in RR trying to fix their death-bowling woes. With Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson in the top four to go with Shivam Dube and Riyan Parag in the middle, their batting looks pretty good as well.

Meanwhile, Punjab Kings have lost as many as 101 matches, which is the second-most in the history of this Indian T20 league. In fact, Punjab are the worst team when it comes to making it to the top four. They have reached the knockouts only twice in 13 seasons (2008 and 2014). Every other team has made it to the playoffs at least four times. In the last three seasons, Punjab have looked good and have had a real chance of making it to the playoffs but inconsistency in the back half of the tournament has haunted them time and again.

This season, the 2014 finalists have once again assembled a quality side. They have a fiery top four in KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran. The bowling has depth and variety as well. However, once again their issue is their middle-order. Their batting seems to fall off the cliff after the top four. They have the likes of Shahrukh Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda and Mandeep Singh and most of those players have flattered to deceive in the previous editions. Moreover, PBKS don’t have a proper No. 7. They either need to play Fabien Allen or Moises Henriques as a four overs bowler or trust either of Chris Jordan or Jhye Richardson to bat at 7.

Probable Playing XIs

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal/Manan Vohra, Jos Butler, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Shreyas Gopal, Mustafizur Rahman/Andrew Tye, Kartik Tyagi

Punjab Kings: KL Rahul (c & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Sarfaraz Khan/Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, Jhye Richardson, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh

Captaincy Picks

Ben Stokes: In 2020, Ben Stokes had his best season in the IPL while playing for the Rajasthan Royals. The premier England all-rounder had struggled in 2018 and 2019 when he batted in the middle-order. But his move to the top paid rich dividends as he returned with 285 runs at an average of 40.71 and a strike-rate of 142.50. Stokes is likely to continue batting at the top this season as well. Combine that with his wicket-taking ability, he makes an excellent case as fantasy captain.

KL Rahul: KL Rahul has been supremely consistent over the last few years in the IPL. He has amassed at least 590 runs in every single season for the Punjab Kings. In fact, overall, the Karnataka batsman has aggregated a staggering 1922 runs at an average of 54.91 and a strike-rate of 140.09 for Punjab in just three seasons. Hence, the Punjab Kings skipper will be one of the favourites as far as captaincy picks are concerned.

Fan2Play Fantasy Cricket Tips

2-Player Team

Ben Stokes, KL Rahul

3-Player Team

Jos Buttler, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami

4-Player Team

Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson, Chris Gayle, KL Rahul

11-Player Team

KL Rahul, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Nicholas Pooran, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Ben Stokes, Chris Morris, Kartik Tyagi, Jhye Richardson, Chris Jordan

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