The Rajasthan Royals boosted by the return of Steve Smith – have made some exciting additions to their side in the form of Ashton Turner and Oshane Thomas. Royals exceeded expectations last season when they sneaked into the top four. With a much better side this season, the franchise will look to go further than they did in 2018.
Kings XI Punjab have undergone a sea change from last season. There has been a change at the helm– with Mike Hesson taking over as coach, and the franchise announced they were retaining only nine players who donned the red and silver last season. The team spent big sums of money at the player auctions to acquire the mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy and the English all-rounder Sam Curran.
Rajasthan Royals have an outstanding record in IPL matches at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur; their win-loss record reads: won – 29, lost – 11. Kings XI Punjab have never won a match in five visits to the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
Probable Playing XI:
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Jos Buttler (WK), Sanju Samson, Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, K Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni, Sudhesan Midhun.
Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul (WK), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Mandeep Singh, Moises Henriques, Ravichandran Ashwin (C), Andrew Tye, Varun Chakravarthy, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Zadran.
Dream XI:
KL Rahul (WK), Steve Smith (C), Chris Gayle, Jofra Archer, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, K Gowtham, Varun Chakravarthy, Mujeeb Zadran (VC), Jaydev Unadkat, Ravichandran Ashwin
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