Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) witnessed contrasting fortunes last season as Kings played well in the early stages still failed to qualify to the playoffs, Royals managed to seals the playoffs spot by peaking at the right time. However, this season, they will kick-start their IPL 12 campaign against each other at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
With the home advantage, Rajasthan will be raring to start off their season with a winning note. On the other hand, if Chris Gayle managed to continue his international form in IPL, he will single-handedly win the game for Punjab. Apart from him, a lot of fans will be looking forward to the comeback of Steve Smith. But it has also be said that he yet to fully recover from an elbow injury and may not be able to be in the playing XI in the first game itself. Ben Stokes will once again be shouldering a lot of responsibility of both the batting and bowling line-up.
KXIP, on the other hand, will be heavily reliant on their openers Gayle and KL Rahul. While skipper Ravichandran Ashwin will be spearheading the bowling line-up. With Mohammed Shami, Andrew Tye and Mujeeb Ur Rahman also in their ranks, Punjab’s bowling looks quite balanced on paper.
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Despite the fact that both the teams have decent crowd pullers in their line-ups, Rajasthan will be having an edge with the home advantage. RR have a stronger batting line-up than Kings, who are mostly dependent on their openers Chris Gayle and Rahul. Apart from that, there is no denying to the fact that more often than not, the home team does have an upper hand.
Rajasthan Royals (RR)
In IPL 2019, Rajasthan has opted for Pink color as their theme and will adorn it throughout this season. They will be boosted with Smith’s return this year after sitting out in the last season. Ajinkya Rahane will continue to lead the side and is expected to open the batting along with Jos Buttler. Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripathi will be batting in the middle-order.
Stokes and Jofra Archer are likely to fill the other two foreign slots. K Gowtham and Shreyas Gopal will be the two spinners in the team, who were the unsung hero for RR last year. Jaydev Unadkat and Dhawal Kulkarni will hold the fast bowling forte together for Rajasthan.
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Probable XI: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Jos Buttler (WK), Steve Smith, Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi, Ben Stokes, K Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni.
Kings XI Punjab (KXIP)
Punjab looks one of the threatening teams of IPL this year, but with a huge asterisk. They were on a roll last year during the first half of the tournament and won five matches out of first six and their place in the playoffs was almost confirmed. But in the other half, they lost seven of eight matches and crashed out from the tournament at the seventh place as they are heavily dependent on their top-order when it comes batting order.
In from Gayle will open the batting along with Rahul while Karun Nair and Mandeep Singh will play in the middle-order. Captain Ravichandran Ashwin can opt for three spinners after having a closer look of Jaipur surface. Andrew Tye and Mohammed Shami will be the two pacers in the team. Either of Sam Curran or Moises Henriques slot in as the fourth overseas player.
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Probable XI: Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Mandeep Singh, Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Sam Curran/Moises Henriques, R Ashwin (C), Mohammed Shami, Andrew Tye, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
