With two matches to be played in the Indian Premier League on Saturday, the fans will be hoping for plenty of exciting action as Kings XI Punjab take on Rajasthan Royals in their return fixture of the season. Both teams are still in with a chance of making it to the semi-finals, though require consistent efforts.
Kings XI Punjab survived a scare against Royal Challengers Bangalore to scamper to victory off the second last ball. They now have ten points from ten matches and are decently placed in fourth position. As they continue to gain momentum, they will look to win against a struggling Rajasthan Royals side.
For the Kings XI, Azhar Mahmood has been the star performer with crucial wickets at key moments. He finished with figures of three wickets for 20 runs from his quota. The young batsmen also lived up to the challenge with Nitin Saini scoring his maiden fifty while Mandeep Singh has started to bat well at the top. Three run outs though are one thing that they will be keen to avoid.
For the Rajasthan Royals, their situation keeps getting worse as they have now lost four matches in a row. They need to win their next match to have any chance of making the semi-final hopes stay alive. Against Delhi Daredevils, they were outdone and beaten with more than four overs left.
Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane have been the mainstays with the bat, scoring six half-century plus partnerships so far. However, the other batsmen have not been as responsive and will need to do better to give their weakened bowlers something to play with. The bowling department is already struggling due to injury to Kevon Cooper.
The match will be played in Mohali, the home ground for Kings XI Punjab. The match starts at 8.00pm local time.