The returning Buttler to hit the ground running

Rajasthan Royals will be doubly delighted as they head in to their second game in this year’s Dream11 Indian Premier League against the Kings XI Punjab. Both teams come in to this one on the back of handsome looking victories last time out.

The finisher is back

Rajasthan Head Coach Andrew McDonald will have one of the nicest problems in professional sport this week, how does he fit one of the best and most destructive players in world cricket in to a side that has just won convincingly without him. In this case it’s English Wicket Keeper Jos Buttler who missed their opening match against the Chennai Super Kings due to having to quarantine after his late arrival to the UAE, due to playing in the ODI series against Australia.

It is likely to be his fellow Englishman Tom Curran who will make way for Buttler, with the Royals having to change the balance of their side. When you score 216 runs it is hard to drop any of the batsmen! It was all the S’s that set the game up with Sanju Samson hitting a rapid fire 74 from 32 balls with 9 sixes, and Steve Smith scoring 69. Jofra Archer took Rajasthan over 200 with 27* from just 8 balls which included four sixes in a row. Three wickets for Rahul Tewatia and an economical spell from Jofra Archer helped the Royals see off any potential chase from CSK.

Captain Fantastic

It was all about the skipper last time out for Kings XI Punjab in their 97 run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore. KL Rahul played a breath-taking T20 knock of 132 which included 21 boundaries as Kings XI set an almighty 207 to win. With the ball, the metronomic Mohammed Shami continued his fine form to concede just 14 runs from his 3 overs and help to restricted RCB to 4-3 and effectively win the game before the chase got going. Three wickets for Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin as well as two wickets for Sheldon Cottrell will please the management at Kings XI, who will be full of confidence going in to this one.

Sharjah plays host to this match so it is bound to be a run fest with their 60 meter boundaries. Last time they hosted a match 416 runs were scored and with Kings XI having Chris Gayle in the shed who hasn’t played a match yet, they will be tempted to unleash the Universe Boss on a ground whose boundaries wouldn’t be out of place in a youth match.

Match Tip

With Buttler, Samson and Smith at the top of the order there is surely going to be plenty of boundaries. Even though KL Rahul is coming in to this one in great from for Kings XI, I think Rajasthan have more firepower with the bat.

I am backing Rajasthan Royals to hit more fours than Kings XI Punjab at 2.00 with Unibet.

Bet Rajasthan Royals to hit the most fours on Unibet