Rajasthan Royals will return to the familiar environs of the ACA Stadium in Guwahati to arrest their three-match losing streak and seal a playoff spot when they meet Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League 2024 on Wednesday.

The RR vs PBKS match on May 15 is scheduled to start at 7.30 PM IST. The IPL 2024 fixture will be available to watch on live streaming for free in India.

The Royals lost their last match away at Chennai Super Kings by five wickets in a low-scoring game on Sunday. 

Ravichandran Ashwin, who picked up 2/35 and Yuzvendra Chahal with 1/22 shone with the ball but CSK won the game with 10 balls to spare. Riyan Parag top-scored for the Royals with an unbeaten 47 off 35 balls.

Meanwhile, Punjab Kings lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 60 runs in their last outing at Dharamsala last week.

Skipper Sanju Samson leads the Royals’ batting charts in IPL 2024 with 486 runs from 12 matches at an average of 60.75 and a strike rate of 158.30. Whereas Parag follows closely with 483 runs from 11 outings to the crease averaging 60.37 and striking at 153.82. 

Chahal has the most wickets among the Royals’ bowlers this season with 15 wickets from 12 matches whereas Trent Boult and Avesh Khan both have 11 wickets each from 12 outings.

 

Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings standings

 

Rajasthan Royals are currently second in the IPL 2024 standings with 16 points and a net run rate of +0.349. The Royals have won eight out of their 12 matches so far this season.

Meanwhile, Punjab Kings have played 12 games this season, winning four matches and losing eight. PBKS are currently last in the IPL standings with eight points and an NRR of -0.423.

 

RR vs PBKS form in IPL

 

Both Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings have won two of their last five matches in IPL 2024, coming into Wednesday's game.

 

Rajasthan Royals last five matches

 

Opponent 

Venue

Result

Match Date

Margin

CSK

Chennai

Lost

May 12, 2024

5 wickets

DC

Delhi

Lost

May 7, 2024

20 runs

SRH

Hyderabad

Lost

May 2, 2024

1 run

LSG

Lucknow

Won

April 27, 2024

7 wickets

MI

Jaipur

Won

April 22, 2024

9 wickets

 

Punjab Kings last five matches

 

Opponent 

Venue

Result

Match Date

Margin

RCB

Dharamsala

Lost

May 9, 2024

60 runs

CSK

Dharamsala

Lost

May 5, 2024

28 runs

CSK

Chennai

Won

May 1, 2024

7 wickets

KKR

Kolkata

Won

April 26, 2024

8 wickets

GT

Mullanpur

Lost

April 21, 2024

3 wickets

 

In the RR vs PBKS head-to-head, the two teams have played each other 27 times in the IPL with the Royals winning 16 of those matches and the Kings ending victorious in 11. 

In the most recent encounter between the two sides in IPL 2024 at Mullanpur last month, the Royals beat the Kings by three wickets.

 

Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings players

 

Ashwin and Chahal were brilliant in the Royals’ last match against CSK at Chennai. Ashwin picked up two wickets in his four overs to complete 50 wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. 

Whereas Chahal was back amongst the wickets after going wicketless in two of the last three matches. The leg-spinner conceded just 5.50 runs an over, his most economic spell in the last nine games for the Royals.

The Royals bowling unit put in an impressive display during the middle overs not conceding a single boundary for 39 balls between the seventh and the 13th over. This helped them push the match to the end and as a result, did not lose heavily on the net run rate count.

On the batting front, Parag hit three sixes and a four to help the Royals to a respectable score on a slow and difficult wicket. Dhruv Jurel also chipped in with a useful cameo of 28 from 18 balls and along with Parag bailed out the Royals, who were precariously placed at 91/3 in the 15th over.

Chahal, with 30 wickets from 20 matches, is the leading wicket-taker against PBKS in the current Royals squad and Ashwin has picked 20 wickets in 20 matches against his former team.

Skipper Samson is the top run-getter for the Royals against PBKS amassing 720 runs in 22 matches at an average of 37.89 and a strike rate of 143.42. Sanju Samson’s highest score in IPL also came against the Kings in their 2021 match, where he scored 119.

In the reverse fixture against PBKS last month, both Keshav Maharaj and Avesh Khan put in impressive performances with the ball picking up two wickets each to restrict the Kings’ batting. Shimron Hetmyer’s late heroics sealed the game for the Royals, with a ball to spare, as he scored 27 off just 10 balls. 

 

Rajasthan Royals squad: Sanju Samson (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Rovman Powell, Kunal Singh Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Donovan Ferreira, Abid Mushtaq, Avesh Khan, Trent Boult, Nandre Burger, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Kuldeep Sen, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj

 

Punjab Kings squad: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Jonny Bairstow, Harpreet Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Rilee Rossouw, Jitesh Sharma, Sam Curran, Rishi Dhawan, Ashutosh Sharma, Shashank Singh, Shivam Singh, Sikandar Raza, Atharva Taide, Chris Woakes, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar, Vidwath Kaverappa, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Tanay Thyagarajan, Prince Choudhary, Vishwanath Singh

 

Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings stats

 

  • 31: Sanju Samson is 1 win away from equalling most wins as RR captain
  • 50: This will be Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 50th IPL match
  • 50: Ravichandran Ashwin is 3 catches away from 50 catches in IPL
  • 50: Riyan Parag needs 3 catches for 50 catches in T20s
  • 100: Tom Kohler-Cadmore needs 1 catch for 100 catches in T20s
  • 300: Sanju Samson needs 3 sixes for 300 sixes in T20s
  • 350: Sanju Samson is 2 fours away from 350 fours in IPL
  • 4500: Sanju Samson needs 126 runs for 4500 runs in IPL

 

Where to watch Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings live

 

Live streaming of the Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings match will be available on the Jio Cinema App and website. The RR vs PBKS match will be telecast live on the Star Sports Network TV channels in India. The match will start at 7.30 PM IST.

 

RR vs PBKS Venue: ACA Stadium records

 

  • Highest team total: 199/4 by RR vs DC, 2023
  • Lowest team total: 142/9 by DC vs RR, 2023
  • Highest individual score: 86* by Shikhar Dhawan, PBKS vs RR, 2023
  • Best bowling figures: 4/30 by Nathan Ellis, PBKS vs RR, 2023
  • Highest partnership: 98 by Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler, first wicket, RR vs DC, 2023
  • Win rate batting first: 100% (2 Won; 0 Lost)
  • Average first innings score: 198
  • Average first innings winning score: 198