“It’s not one person’s issue, it’s all of us together in this fight.” - Kumar Sangakkara


After winning six of their first eight games including a hat-trick of wins, the Royals were faced with back-to-back defeats in their last two matches. The good thing though is that there have been plenty of positives to take from these losses - the team’s ability to stick with each other through thick and thin, the belief in their skills, the fighting spirit and an ice-cool, supportive captain in Sanju Samson. The Royals skipper has always been upbeat in his post-match presentations, backing his players even when they’ve had a bad day in the middle, admitting the shortcomings and looking forward to the next challenge. With four crucial league matches ahead and one eye on the playoffs spot, the focus for Sanju & co. will be to carry the same winning mentality and positive approach forward - one game at a time. 

We return to the Wankhede Stadium to take on Punjab Kings in our 11th match of the season. 

Match Details

Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals - 7 May 2022

Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

3:30 PM IST

This will be our first match against Punjab Kings this season. The last time these two teams met in the 2021 season, skipper Sanju scored a sensational century at the same venue in the first of their two matches. We suffered a heartbreaking loss in that one but bounced back to win the reverse fixture in Dubai. 

Both teams have faced off in 23 IPL matches so far, with the Royals enjoying a 13-10 lead. We’ve also won three of our last four encounters against PBKS since 2020. 

A typical 170-odd wicket awaits at Wankhede, where captains have generally opted to bowl first this season, but that’s as far as evening matches are concerned. This will be a day game, and the last time Wankhede hosted an afternoon match this season, the batting team went past the 190-run mark and ended up on the winning side. Since 2019, both teams have been involved in some high-scoring contests, with the 220-run mark being breached thrice in six matches. 

Player battles to watch

Yuzvendra Chahal vs Mayank Agarwal & Shikhar Dhawan

Yuzvendra Chahal has a fantastic record against Mayank Agarwal, having dismissed him five times in nine T20 innings so far. Mayank has scored just 80 runs at an average of 16 against him. With the PBKS captain moving down the batting order, it’ll be interesting to see whether Sanju Samson holds his ace leg-spinner back for a late, intriguing spell against Mayank. 

Chahal has also been brilliant against Shikhar Dhawan, getting him out on three of the 10 occasions that they’ve played. Dhawan is coming off an unbeaten fifty that helped PBKS win their last game. The Royals will be looking to combat the southpaw early on in the innings with the Yuzi trump card up their sleeve. 

Jos Buttler vs Kagiso Rabada

Jos Buttler has scored 47 runs in seven innings against Kagiso Rabada and has never been dismissed by the pacer in T20s. But the PBKS bowler is in red-hot form, coming off a match-winning four-wicket haul against GT. Jos, who had a relatively quiet last outing, will also be aiming to go big in the next one. At Wankhede, the opener has scored 221 runs in four matches so far, including a fifty and a century. He loves the venue, he loves batting in pink. And we’d love another Jos Special! 🤞

Most IPL runs for Jos Buttler - by opponent

Opponent

Inns

Runs

Avg

SR

Mumbai Indians

7

467

77.8

156

Punjab Kings

10

386

42.9

156

Kolkata Knight Riders

11

370

37.0

140

Royal Challengers Bangalore

11

306

34.0

146

Team News


Karun Nair replaced Daryl Mitchell in the Playing XI for our last game against KKR. Karun got a decent start with the bat and was involved in an important partnership with the captain. His presence adds some much-needed stability to our batting order. But does the team management feel the need to have an all-rounder to strengthen the lower-middle order? Or will they stick to their current combination? We’ll find out if there are any surprises in store, at the toss. 


Milestone Watch


  • Jos Buttler needs 6 fours to complete 200 IPL fours for the Royals

  • Sanju Samson is one win away from completing 50 wins for the Royals in the IPL

    Yuzvendra Chahal needs 2 more wickets to become the Royals\" most successful spinner in a single IPL season



    Which Royal are you looking forward to watching in action? Share your thoughts with us on Twitter at @rajasthanroyals or with me @arey_yaar