IPL 2023: Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings Game 8: Match Prediction, Preview, Probable XIs, Pitch & Weather Report And Injury Update

New Delhi: Inaugural edition winners Rajasthan Royals will face 2014 IPL losing finalists Punjab Kings in Match No. 8 of the ongoing season of Indian Premier League. The Sanju Samson-led side won the first match of this year’s IPL by a margin of 72 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday (April 2), whereas Shikhar Dhawan’s Punjab Kings is also coming into this game on the back of securing a win over Kolkata Knight Riders in their tournament opener.

For the Royals, the top three batters – Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal and skipper Sanju, scored a fifty in the first match and in the bowling Trent Boult and Yuzvendra Chahal picked up three and four wickets respectively. The team is looking pretty balanced and are among the leading contenders to win the title this year.

Whereas for Punjab, the onus will once again be on skipper Dhawan, who looked in good touch last time around along with Bhanuka Rajapaksa and star pacer Arshdeep Singh. The team will be bolstered by the return of Kagiso Rabada, who is likely to replace Nathan Ellis in the XI and lead the pace attack.

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Here is all you need to know about the match:

RR vs PBKS Pitch and Weather Report:

The match between Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings will take place at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. The match is expected to a high-scoring affair as in the last T20 match which was played here between India and South Africa last year more than 450 runs were scored in the game. As far as weather is concerned, according to Accuweather there are less than 10% chance of rain at the time of start but the probability rises to 50% around 10 pm. So there could be some rain interruptions as the game progresses.

Key Players to watch out for:

Jos Buttler: Jos Buttler finished as the leading run getter in IPL last year and this season as well he has started with a bang. In the first match, he scored 54 runs from just 22 balls and he would like to continue in the similar fashion against PBKS as well.

Sam Curran: Punjab Kings paid Rs 18.50 crore to acquire Sam Curran’s services in the IPL mini auction last year. He is most expensive player in the cash-rich league’s history and their will be high expectations from him to live up to the billing.

Yuzvendra Chahal: Star Indian spinner Chahal won the Purple Cap in IPL 2022 and in the first match of 2023 season, he picked up four wickets. He will be a danger bowler in the upcoming matches as well.

Injury and availability

There is no update on Liam Livingstone’s availability for this game as well. He is fit but yet to get clearance from ECB. But in a good news for PBKS, Kagiso Rabada is available for selection in this game. He has joined the squad after playing for South Africa in the home series against the Netherlands.

Probable Playing XIs

Rajasthan Royals (RR): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, KM Asif, Yuzvendra Chahal

Punjab Kings (PBKS): Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Shahrukh Khan, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh

Here are full squads of both the teams:

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, KM Asif, Yuzvendra Chahal, Dhruv Jurel, Sandeep Sharma, Murugan Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Donavon Ferreira, Obed McCoy, Kunal Singh Rathore, Abdul Basith, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, KC Cariappa, Akash Vasisht, Adam Zampa, Joe Root

Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Shahrukh Khan, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Matthew Short, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Rishi Dhawan, Raj Bawa, Baltej Singh, Atharva Taide, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Mohit Rathee, Shivam Singh.