Day 9 of the IPL will feature two teams whom people weren’t talking about before the season started but are raising eyebrows across the cricketing community, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab.
Interestingly, both the teams are coming off of phenomenal and almost flawless performances. However, in a league of high stature like IPL, consistency is the key.
It will be interesting to see how they back their previous wins.
Kings XI Punjab
KXIP is coming off its first win of the tournament. Luck wasn’t their friend in the first match. However, they covered up for it in the second won as they defeated RCB by a massive margin of 97 runs.
Skipper KL Rahul smashed an impressive 132 runs of just 69 balls to take KXIP at the massive score of 206. Other KXIP batsmen like Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair added valuable contributions as well.
The bowlers, on the other hand, added final nails on the coffin as they restricted RCB to a score of only 109 runs.
Rajasthan Royals
Royals delivered a major upset as they defeated Chennai Super Kings in their first encounter. They were good in all three departments. Skipper Steve Smith adopted an opening role and scored a brilliant 69 runs off just 47 balls. However, the star of the show was young Sanju Samson who scored an impressive 74 of just 32 balls.
As per bowling is concerned, RR was able to get early wickets. Even though CSK went on to score 200, RR had already had the match in their control.
Also, Jos is back!
Fantasy XI League!
KL RAHUL (10.5) (C) – The KXIP skipper is in phenomenal form. He’ll be our captain.
MAYANK AGARWAL (9) – Aggarwal looked in great form. He will play an anchor like innings as Rahul smashes from the other end.
MOHD. SHAMI (9) – Shami looked phenomenal with his spell where he picked up 3 wickets in the first match and bowled well in the second as well.
RAVI BISNOI (8) – Bishnoi impressed everyone with his dynamic leg-spin. He picked up 3 important wickets in the last match.
MURUGAN ASHWIN (8) – M.Ashwin impressed everybody with his performance. He and Bishnoi ripped through the RCB batting lineup. Ashwin picked up 3 wickets as well.
STEVE SMITH (10) (VC) – Steve Smith looked in great form and thus will be out vice-captain.
JOS BUTTLER (10.5) – Pretty self-explanatory why the Englishman directly comes in.
SANJU SAMSON (9.5) – Samson looked phenomenal in his last match. The way he plays spin will be useful against M. Ashwin and Bishnoi.
YASHASVI JAISWAL (8) – Jaiswal may get another chance into the RR side.
RAHUL TEWATIA (8.5) – Tewatia bowled beautifully and got three wickets that too of Shane Watson, Sam Curran, and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
JOFRA ARCHER (9) – Archer bowled great as well and not to forget his innings where he hit Ngidi for four consecutive sixes!
PREDICTION
Royals will have to probably leave out David Miller in order to make place for Jos Buttler. That will make their top oder strong but middle-order a bit weak.
KXIP, on the other hand, is stacked in all departments. They’ve also discovered there own spin twins in Bishnoi and M. Ashwin. Therefore, Kings XI Punjab will defeat Rajasthan Royals.
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