Following a comprehensive victory in their season opener, Rajasthan Royals (RR) will take on Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the IPL 2023 on Wednesday. Sanju Samson's side heads into the clash at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, the second home of the Royals, on the back of a 72-run victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
The Royals will hope to win their second title in 2023 after winning the inaugural season of the IPL in 2008 under the guidance of the legendary Shane Warne. They finished last season as runners-up after impressive outings throughout the campaign. They won nine out of their 14 group-stage games but lost to Gujarat Titans (GT) in the final.
Ahead of the IPL 2023, the Samson-led side retained the core group of players and further strengthened their side with quality reinforcements. They procured the services of Jason Holder, Joe Root, Adam Zampa, and Murugan Ashwin at the 2023 player auction.
RR’s explosive batting line-up was at the fore again as Buttler, Jaiswal, and Samson all notched up half-centuries to propel the side to a match-winning total of 203/5 in the season opener. Buttler won the Orange cap last season with more than 800 runs, and will once again have his eyes firmly set on the honour of top run scorer.
{{/usCountry}}RR’s explosive batting line-up was at the fore again as Buttler, Jaiswal, and Samson all notched up half-centuries to propel the side to a match-winning total of 203/5 in the season opener. Buttler won the Orange cap last season with more than 800 runs, and will once again have his eyes firmly set on the honour of top run scorer.
{{/usCountry}}Trent Boult once again gave the side from the pink city a strong start with the ball, picking up 2 wickets in his very first over. Boult will look to better his performance from last season when he bagged 16 scalps. Chahal was impressive with figures of 17/4 from his quota of 4 overs. Last season’s purple cap holder with 27 wickets in 17 games will once again be instrumental to RR’s success.
Indian pacer Prasidh Krishna has been ruled out of the season with a back injury. He was the leading seam wicket-taker for the franchise with 19 wickets in IPL 2022. But his absence was not felt in the season opener as both KM Asif and Jason Holder were impressive with the ball in their debuts for the franchise.
RR's predicted XI vs SRH
Openers: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Middle Order: Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c) (wk), Shimron Hetmyer.
All-Rounders: Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jason Holder.
Bowlers: Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, KM Asif.
Impact Player
While IPL veteran Sandeep Sharma has also been brought in as Krishna’s replacement. RR also have Kuldeep Sen and Navdeep Saini as seam bowling options to call upon. Sen was impressive last season with eight wickets from seven innings and was later rewarded with a national team call-up. Saini was brought on in the second innings as an Impact Player and the franchise might look to him again in this match.