IPL 2018, Match 38, KXIP vs RR, Match Prediction: Who will win the match today, Kings XI Punjab or Rajasthan Royals?

The Kings XI Punjab have lost their way recently with two back to back losses coming back from a break, but they played so well in the first half of the tournament that they are still in a decent position. Sitting at no. 3 in the team standings, thus there is no real need for them to panic just yet.

The Rajasthan Royals, on the contrary, are just one loss away from getting eliminated from the tournament. Despite having a quality squad on paper, they haven’t quite got their act together for some reason and have suffered a string of losses to find themselves right at the bottom of the table.

Pitch and Conditions

The wicket at the Holkar Stadium played pretty well last night. The oddball held up and the odd one spun, but there was nothing significant in there to create any massive issues for the batters. It kept getting better under lights and towards the end, some of the stroke-play from Mumbai was pretty crisp which is the reason why both teams tomorrow will want to be batting second. Whatever little stickiness might be there in the surface will disappear with dew making its presence in the second innings.

Playing Combination

Kings XI Punjab

Probable Changes – Manoj Tiwary and Barinder Sran in, Yuvraj Singh and Axar Patel out

Yuvraj Singh was brought back by Punjab last game and they slotted him at no. 3 to perhaps give him some extra time in the middle, but he struggled right through the innings and hardly got anything from the meat of his blade. The hosts will be tempted to replace him with Manoj Tiwary who is a good player of spin and can milk the bowling in the middle overs batting at no. 4/5.

The boundaries at the Holkar Stadium are really small, especially the square boundaries on one side of the wicket, playing three spinners is really risky as the batsmen can line them up on the shorter side of the ground and hit sixes with ease.

Rather than the third spinner, an extra fast bowler will be better suited to the conditions and if Ravichandran Ashwin thinks on the same lines, Axar Patel might have to make way for Barinder Sran.

Predicted XI: Chris Gayle, KL Rahul (WK), Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Manoj Tiwary, Marcus Stoinis, Ravichandran Ashwin (C), Andrew Tye, Barinder Sran, Ankit Rajpoot, Mujeeb Zadran

Rajasthan Royals

Probable Changes – D’Arcy Short and Shreyas Gopal out, Rahul Tripathi and Ish Sodhi in

D’Arcy Short opened for Rajasthan last game and although his overall score shows 44 off 25 balls, it was a very average batting performance. He just couldn’t get going at the start of the innings at all and played too many dot balls which put pressure on Jos Buttler subsequently resulting in his wicket and a game losing blow for Rajasthan as they were in the pursuit of a stiff chase.

Short put a few into the stands later, but his struggle early cost Rajasthan dearly and they might make the radical call of dropping him and give a go to the all-rounder Stuart Binny in which case Rahul Tripathi will move up the order and pair with Ajinkya Rahane at the top.

Short’s exclusion will open up the 4th overseas slot for the visitors which they might hand to the Blackcaps leggie Ish Sodhi who will come in for Shreyas Gopal.

Predicted XI: Rahul Tripathi, Ajinkya Rahane (C), Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (WK), Stuart Binny, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Ish Sodhi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat

Team Comparison

Jofra’s addition to the XI has strengthened Rajasthan’s bowling, but there are still loopholes in there. The fact that Jaydev Unadkat has proved to be a total failure hasn’t helped them at all as they invested big on him in the auction.

Punjab’s bowling has come good for them for a major portion of the tourney, but they might be a little bothered about the recent form of the skipper Ravichandran Ashwin who has gone wicketless in the last three games.

As far as batting is concerned, Punjab heavily bank on their openers and that’s where they are vulnerable as a side. If the opposition gets it right with the new ball and sends both Gayle and Rahul back cheaply, KXIP are in huge trouble.

In Rajasthan’s case, the cream isn’t right at the top with their batting and it actually lies in the middle with Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler batting at no. 4 and 5 respectively. They are the ones who are the real game changers for the visitors, but both of them have been very inconsistent so far.

Probable Top Performers

Mujeeb Zadran (Kings XI Punjab), Jos Buttler (Rajasthan Royals)

Head to Head

Matches – 15, Kings XI Punjab – 5, Rajasthan Royals  – 9, Tie – 1 (Kings XI Punjab won)

The timing of the match: 08:00 pm IST

Broadcast Details

TV – Star Sports 1, Star Sports Hindi, Star Sports Select 1

Online – Jio TV, Hotstar

The prediction is for the Kings XI Punjab to beat the Rajasthan Royals in this match.