Rajasthan Royals occupy the last spot in the Indian Premier League 2018 points table. They have just three wins from nine games so far, but all is not lost for the franchise, and they could still make it to the play-offs if they win their remaining five matches.
Kings XI Punjab on the other hand, have got their campaign on track. In the previous match between the two, Punjab beat Rajasthan in their adopted home of Indore to recover after two consecutive losses, and the two teams will face each other again, this time at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Tuesday (May 8). Punjab will be looking to build on their momentum, while Rajasthan will fight hard to keep their chances alive and have the home advantage.
Here are three players who will be under the microscope in that match.
1) D’Arcy coming up Short: He had 527 runs at 52.70 with a booming strike rate of 148.57 in the Big Bash League 2018. D’Arcy Short’s stellar performance even culminated in a maiden Australia call-up, where he faired equally brilliantly. Leading up to IPL 2018, Short was one of the players to look out for, but the opener has failed to replicate that performance for Rajasthan. His preference for pace has been worked out, and hence teams have attacked him with spin up front. If he keeps his place in the XI, Short needs to fire at the top of the order for Rajasthan to stay afloat in the tournament.
2) Rusty Agarwal: Mayank Agarwal has 118 runs from nine games so far in IPL 2018 – numbers that don’t do justice to his form, having piled up more than 2000 runs in the previous domestic season. The right-hander has featured in all games for Punjab this year, but he needs to repay the faith shown in him by his team. If he can find form, Punjab’s middle-order woes will disappear.
3) Stoking Ben’s fire: The most valuable player from the previous edition of the IPL, Ben Stokes has failed to get going for his new franchise. An average of 17.77 with the bat and an economy rate north of 9 runs an over certainly gives a reflection of his poor form this year. In a do-or-die situation, Rajasthan need Stokes to fire with both bat and ball.