Jaipur: Kings XI Punjab, who has already secured third place in the table, will meet Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday, to claim a place in the playoffs.
Ravichandran Ashwin led Punjab team has won six of the nine matches and with three losses is at number three with 12 points, while Rajasthan seems to be in difficult situation after losing six of the nine matches and placed at the bottom in the table.
To keep its hope alive, Rajasthan needs to win the remaining matches at any cost, so that it can manage to secure a place in the playoffs.
Having six points with them does not give Rajasthan a reason to smile because on the other hand with better run rate, Bengaluru and Delhi are above it, with the same number.
Looking at Ajinkya Rahane-led Rajasthan Royals, it will be early to decide whether they will be there in competition or not, but its a do or die situation for them.
Rajasthan is over burden now and can't afford to lose any more matches in the tournament. In one of the matches, Punjab thrashed Rajasthan in its home ground by six wickets, now Rajasthan will have a chance to impress its fans by defeating Punjab on Tuesday.
Rajasthan is struggling with their bowlers and medium pacer Jofra Archer proved to be the most expensive bowler, who gave 43 runs in 3.4 overs. At the same time, Anirutra Singh's economy rate was disappointing.
Rajasthan also failed to perform their fans with their batting except opener Jos Buttler's 51 runs, none of the other batsmen could score 30 runs for the team.
On the other hand, Punjab have great batsmen like Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair and Marcus Stoinis. Apart from this, the Punjab also have a star bowlers, who can defend their score easily.
With 310 runs in six matches, Gayle and Rahul 376 runs at an average of 47 in of 9 matches are the strongest scorer.
In addition, Nair (240) is in the middle order. But apart from these three players, the team does not have any other scorer, who can create hurdles for the opposite teams in the tournament. (UNI)
