Rajasthan Roayals has been on song so far with five wins out of five, a run which started against tonight's opposition. The Royals come up against the Kings XI Punjab side, this time at Motera stadium in Ahmedabad, where CSK were blown away on Sunday. Kings XI have endured a torrid run at their temporary home Pune, where they have lost three and will welcome the change of scenery, but not the opposition they face.
RR have been going from strength to strength since their opening match against Punjab, and with the return of Shane Watson, have bolstered their options with a solid all rounder. Rahane leads the batting charts and with Watson and Smith, forms a formidable trio up front. The big hitting Hooda wasn't even needed with the bat in the last two matches. There is no shortage of options with the ball either with upto 8 bowlers, including Steve Smith. The fact that none of the RR bowlers have featured in the top wicket takers chart of the season so far, is proof how well they are bowling as a unit.Faulkner was their man when the two teams met earlier, picking up 3 wickets and a close to a fifty runs.He hasnt been in form lately, but this could be the game to turn things around.
Kings XI, on the other hand, have been brought down to earth after a stupendous season last year,One win from four matches sees them sitting at sixth position in the IPL table. Their biggest worry has been the batting, especially the hard hitters Glenn Maxwell and David Miller.Skipper George Bailey has had to rescue the innings more often than he would have liked. The Indian pace duo of Sandeep Sharma and Anureet Singh have been terrific, picking up seven wickets each. But they need to be backed up well, especially the fifth bowler option. Mitchell Johnson has struggled big time, with only one wicket in four matches. He could be replaced by an Indian bowler with David Miller coming back in to fill the fourth overseas spot.
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