GUWAHATI: Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals (RR) won the toss and decided to bat against Sam Curran’s Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 65th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Wednesday.
The Royals hold the second place on the IPL 2024 standings with 16 points after winning 8 of 12 matches. They are coming into this match after conceding a 5-wicket loss against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
The Kings stand at the bottom of the IPL 2024 table with eight points after losing 8 of 12 matches. Sam Curran’s side are coming into this match after suffering a 60-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
Speaking at the toss, RR skipper Sanju Samson said Jos Buttler will miss the match against the Kings, and Kohler-Cadmore will take his place.
“We’ll bat first in these conditions. This is a second home for us, we have spend quite a bit of time here. We spent two days to assess on whether there is dew, and there isn’t any. The team, the batting and bowling unit are doing great. Everyone is chill and we are excited to come out and play a great game of cricket. (On securing qualification) I’d be lying if I say no, the camp looks a lot more relaxed. We’ll miss Jos and Kohler-Cadmore comes in, and we might have Ferreira as an impact sub later”, Samson said.
Punjab captain Curran said Nathan Ellis will play against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati. “Tonight we play a really good team, and we can spoil a few campaigns now and finish with some pride. We’ve had a really good squad but some of those games we didn’t win the big moments. We are about 2-3 wins away from qualifying and we aren’t there becasue we didn’t capitalise on the big moments”, he said.
“Tonight, we play a good side and I believe in character, I certainly don’t want to lose tonight and hopefully I can rub that off on the players. We’ve lost a few players, KG is out and Nathan Ellis gets a game. Brar also comes back into the line-up”, Curran said.
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Prabhsimran Singh, Jonny Bairstow, Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, Jitesh Sharma (Wk), Sam Curran (C), Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Sanju Samson (Wk/C), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal. (ANI)