IPL 2024 PBKS vs RR Preview - A battle of match-ups

Key match stats

Pitch Stats – Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium IPL records

Pitch stats from the 10 most recent IPL matches played at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium

Team form PBKS vs RR
PBKS: WLLWL
RR: WWWWL

Recent meetings: PBKS won by 5 runs, RR won by 4 wickets

Weather

General Forecast: Overcast and Dry
Chance of dew: Low to Moderate

Preview PBKS vs RR

Positive starts to an IPL season have been a regular occurance for Rajasthan in recent years. At this time last season, they'd also won 4 of their first 5 matches where coincidentally there only defeat had come against today's opponents PBKS.

However, what followed next was a run of just 1 win in their next 6 games culminating in some quite humiliating defeats in the later part of the season which saw that great start evaporate away to nothing. Can the avoid the same happening in 2024?

I've always liked watching Rajasthan Royals because they will try to think outside the box with some of their tactics. That being said, I think most viewers would have been slightly confused by the decision to bring in Keshav Maharaj for the in-form Nandre Burger as their impact player against GT.

The pitch in Jaipur will turn and RR had just seen Rashid Khan bowl very well on it but I'd question if 2 frontline spinners can't get the job done, will adding a 3rd really make any difference? Ultimately it was Burger's bowling at extremes of the innings that they really missed as they went down to their first defeat of the season.

The stats above covering the first 2 IPL matches at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium suggest that both sides will look to pace bowling to win the game on this pitch.

However, that is not to say that this is a quick surface. The most impactful bowlers in the last match that PBKS played here against SRH were those who bowled into the surface and took pace off the ball.

Punjab's primary issue at the moment continues to be their top order who are delivering an average powerplay score of 48.4. Against SRH, they found themselves 27 for 3 after 6 overs, the lowest powerplay so far of IPL 2024. That they managed to then get within 2 runs of the SRH total is testament to the form of their middle and lower order but trying to win games from that far behind is not a recipe for success.

Rajasthan themselves are hardly pulling up any tree with their top order this season and when you look at the form of both sides new ball bowlers this year, it might well be that this game is won pretty early on in one of the innings.

Trent Boult has 5 powerplay wickets alongside Nandre Burger who has 4. For PBKS both Rabada and Arshdeep Singh have 3 a piece with the later coming off the back of figures of 4 for 29 against SRH.

The forecast is for conditions to be a little overcast and increasingly muggy as the evening progresses so the new ball might swing around a bit more and for a bit longer than we sometimes see.

PBKS vs RR head to head

RR bowling vs PBKS batting

Jonny Bairstow got out to a really horrible hack at Pat Cummins in the last game. While you'd expect him to continue to be the aggressor in his opening partnership with Shikhar Dhawan, his shot selection certainly needs to improve. Since returning from a freak injury, Bairstow is struggling to rediscover the kind of form he was demonstrating a couple of years.

Bairstow T20 head to head vs Boult

By contrast, Shikhar Dhawan scores at the much more stately rate of 124 against Trent Boult but in looking to play the anchor role, it's important that he doesn't leave his team short in the powerplay against Rajasthan's spinners.

Dhawan T20 head to head vs Ashwin

Ravi Ashwin has a great record in all formats against left-handed batsmen and PBKS could well find themselves lining up with 3 lefties in their top 4. It therefore makes the wicket of Bairstow even more important in preventing a match-up that Rajasthan will be keen to exploit as early as possible.

Batsman	Average	Strike Rate
Dhawan	38.7	112.8
Prabsimran Singh	45.0	145.2
Curran	17.9	123.9

T20 career records of PBKS left-handers vs right-arm finger spin

Despite winning the reverse fixture last season when these 2 sides met in Guwahati, PBKS allowed Ashwin to bowl 4 overs, 1 for 25. Whether it's Rashid Khan against RR in their last game or Jasprit Bumrah vs RCB last night, we continue to see that within the context of increasingly higher scores, those are the kind of spells that are winning games.

PBKS bowling vs RR batting

Buttler vs Rabada has the makings of a good show down between 2 of the league's premium overseas stars. Rabada looks like he's bowling with much better rhythm than he achieved at any point of a fractured 2023 campaign and so don't be surprised to see him pushing for another purple cap come the end of the season.

Buttler T20 head to head vs Rabada

Harpreet Brar has done a very good job of restricting scoring in the middle overs particularly when you consider that spin more generally has not been the go to option for many sides in IPL 2024 to date.

In much the same way that RR will look at their off-spinner as a favourable match-up against the PBKS left-handers, PBKS will be keen to exploit Harpreet Brar's match-up against the right-hand dominant Royals line-up.

The Royals managed to nulify that left-arm threat against RCB by taking down the relatively inexperienced Mayank Dagar but prior to that they'd struggled when facing the likes of Krunal Pandya and Axar Patel who between them limited the Royals to scoring just 40 from the 8 overs they bowled between them. Again, the side that best exploits that match-up or manages to over come it will go a long way to winning this match.

Opposition	Score at start of 16th over	Set batsmen at start of 16th over
LSG	128/2	Samson 58 (38), Parag 32 (25)
DC	108/4	Parag 40 (30)
MI	111/4	Parag 38 (36)
RCB	152/2	Buttler 77 (44)
GT	134/2	Parag 56 (36), Samson 44 (25)

RR Team and individual scores at the start of 16th over in IPL 2024

Where the Royals have been better than any other side this year has been at scoring quick runs at the death. We saw a nice cameo of 13 from 5 balls from their primary finisher Shimron Hetmyer in the last game but it's their ability to have set top order players at the crease coming into those final 5 overs that is where the Royals have had most joy at the death.

Therefore simply limiting this Royals team with favourable match-ups might not be enough! PBKS need to take wickets through that middle over period to prevent RR accelerating away from them later on.

Parag and Samson combined T20 head to head vs Harshal Patel

Harshal Patel put in his best performance so far in a Punjab shirt in the match here against SRH and he'll need to continue that form against this Royals middle order today.

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All stats used in this blog are from my own databases which are freely accessible below
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