Big Picture
Rajasthan Royals spent a combined INR 24 crores on Ben Stokes and Jaydev Unadkat, the most expensive players acquired in the IPL auction. That total spend is 30.6% of Royals' entire purse. In this season, Unadkat has an economy rate of 10.38 and Stokes 9.80. Stokes has also scored just 148 runs in eight games at an average of 18.50.
In business terms, that's called overvalued stock. In cricket, that translates to an extremely low return on investment and an imbalanced roster. As a result of their two most influential assets not performing, Royals have slipped to the bottom of the points table, with just three wins in eight games.
Kings XI, on the other hand, have made valuable investments - Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Chris Gayle and Ankit Rajpoot, for example - and a combination of good returns have held the team in good stead. Despite having five wins in eight games, though, Kings XI still have plenty of work to do at their new home ground, the Holkar Stadium, to ease their way towards a playoffs spot.
In the news
Ajinkya Rahane had strapping on his right knee but looked to be moving well during a fielding drill. Kings XI's Aaron Finch, dropped for their game against Mumbai Indians, batted for nearly an hour in an optional training session.
Likely XIs
Kings XI Punjab: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 KL Rahul (wk), 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Yuvraj Singh/Manoj Tiwary, 5 Karun Nair, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Axar Patel, 8 R Ashwin (capt), 9 Andrew Tye, 10 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 11 Ankit Rajpoot
Rajasthan Royals: 1 Jos Buttler (wk), 2 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 3 Sanju Samson, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Rahul Tripathi, 6 Stuart Binny, 7 K Gowtham, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Shreyas Gopal, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Ben Laughlin
Strategy punt
With D'Arcy Short not having found his fluency yet, Royals could push Buttler up to open the batting, like he did in the previous game against Delhi Daredevils. In T20s since 2015, Buttler has a strike rate of 150.5 in the Powerplay, effectively utilising the field restrictions.
As an opener in the IPL, Buttler has an average of 30.80 and a strike rate of 167. At any other position, he has an average of 22.10 and a strike rate of 134.40. That could also allow Royals to strengthen their death-bowling resources, by bringing back Ben Laughlin.
Stats that matter
Kings XI are the most productive batting team in the Powerplay, scoring an average of 58 runs in the period this season.
Ajinkya Rahane has not been as effective against pace (strike rate of 117.20), as he has against spin (strike rate of 143) this season.
Chris Gayle is 72 runs away from 4000 IPL runs.
Since the previous IPL season, no team has won batting first at the Holkar Stadium
Fantasy pick
Have you lost faith in Stokes as a fantasy selection, considering his price? It wouldn't be surprising if many fantasy players have, which is why he's a good pick for this game. With short boundaries all around, Stokes may even be promoted up the batting order. If Stokes bats for a few overs, he should fetch you a healthy return.
Quotes
"This is a tournament where all eight teams are really solid. You don't see teams with weaknesses. The fluctuations in the table keep happening. But it isn't over yet. We've seen teams come back from this kind of situations before, like Mumbai Indians two years ago. So we can take this situation positively as well."
Sanju Samson remains hopeful that Royals' season is far from over
