As Punjab Kings takes on Rajasthan Royals in its second straight home game at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh international cricket stadium in Mullanpur on April 13, it would want its openers to come good in the PowerPlay.
Jonny Bairstow and Shikhar Dhawan haven’t quite fired the way, say, the Sunrisers Hyderabad openers have and that’s been a cause for concern for the Kings.
Batting coach Sanjay Bangar was seen having a chat with them on Thursday, and Bairstow, facing throwdowns from Bangar on Friday, was seen smoking a couple of straight sixes.
Bowling coach Charl Langeveldt on Friday said that he expected the big foreign signings who’ve been patchy so far — Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, and Sam Curran — to “hopefully turn it around sooner than later.”
In terms of bowling, Kings had its best PowerPlay of the season in its last match versus SRH and would want to keep it up against RR.
Livingstone was seen practising big-hitting against the spinners in the nets on Friday. Langeveldt said the decision on his inclusion would be taken on the match-day.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was the first to face throwdowns in the Royals nets and his team would just hope for him to score big on Saturday.
RR spinner Keshav Maharaj on Friday said that Sandeep Sharma was carrying a niggle and didn’t provide an update on the pacer’s fitness. If he is fit and available, he would undoubtedly be an asset for the Royals in the death overs.
For Kings, much would depend on the bowlers restricting the power-packed Royals batting.
The teams
Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Harshal Patel, Chris Woakes, Ashutosh Sharma, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Shashank Singh, Tanay Thyagarajann, Prince Choudhary, Rilee Rossouw.
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj.
Match starts at 7:30pm.
