On Saturday, April 5, in Mullanpur, the Punjab Kings (PBKS) will host the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 18th game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The season’s first home game for Punjab will be this one.
PBKS demonstrate strong performance in this IPL season by winning their first two matches. The team maintains its position at the top of the standings as they hold four points from two matches with +1.485 NRR.
Team RR has a tenth-place ranking on the points table after winning one game from their three matches. Following their initial two consecutive defeats the team won their first match of IPL 2025 by beating the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
While RR hopes to advance in the standings with a victory tonight, Punjab will want to maintain their winning streak and solidify their place at the top of the table. Fans should expect an intense encounter with some intriguing matchups as both sides compete for a victory.
Having said that, let’s examine three intriguing player battles to be aware of.
1. Sanju Samson vs Yuzvendra Chahal
In Rajasthan’s first match against SunRisers Hyderabad, the RR regular captain hammered a rapid half-century (37-ball 66). Since then, though, Sanju Samson’s performance has drastically deteriorated as he has been unable to turn starts into significant knocks.
Samson will try to move past that and defeat PBKS with a game-winning knock. But the threat posed by Yuzvendra Chahal will make the right-handed hitter nervous. In T20 cricket, the Kerala-born player has only scored 52 runs from 51 deliveries, and the seasoned leg spinner has removed him five times.
Expect Chahal to bowl in the powerplay tonight, and his duel with Samson will be an interesting one to watch.
2. Sandeep Sharma vs PBKS batters
The bowler from Rajasthan has improved over time, and he is a unique breed because of his ability to bowl slower deliveries at the proper line and length and to hit yorkers with precision. Because of this, RR decided to keep him before the mega-auction.
Given his stellar record against PBKS’s hitters, Sandeep Sharma will be Samson’s preferred bowler against them. In 18 innings, he has removed Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, and Shreyas Iyer seven times, and their strike rate against Sharma is likewise below average (via Cricbuzz).
If Punjab wants to continue its run-scoring rampage in the 2025 Indian Premier League, they must prepare for the threat posed by Sandeep Sharma.
3. Marcus Stoinis vs Yashasvi Jaiswal
Yashasvi Jaiswal has only scored 34 runs in three innings thus far, making his IPL 2025 campaign a complete bust. After being signed by the team for an incredible ₹18 crore, the youthful left-handed hitter will be expected to provide runs.
But if Jaiswal wants to score a lot tonight, he will need to eliminate Marcus Stonis’ threat. In 15 deliveries, the Australian all-rounder has removed the RR opener three times while giving up just 15 runs.
Shreyas Iyer, the captain of PBKS, may be tempted to try to get Jaiswal out as soon as possible by throwing the ball to Stoinis inside the powerplay.
