Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab considered among the big-boys of the IPL despite being the part of the tournament since the beginning. Rajasthan Royals surprised everyone by winning the IPL title in the very first season, but they haven’t been able to repeat the feat. Kings XI Punjab, on the other hand, have reached the final of the tournament only once in 2014 but failed to win the coveted title.
Both sides have faced each other for a total of 19 times so far throughout the IPL. Rajasthan Royals have a slight lead over their counterparts with 10 wins, while Kings XI Punjab have won 9 games. At KXIP home, Punjab have won 4 games, and Rajasthan have managed to win 3 out of 7 they have played. The Royals enjoy a complete dominance over the Kings at their home with 5 wins and a single loss from 6 matches. At neutral venues, Both teams have squared off 6 times and Kings XI Punjab have won 4 games, while Rajasthan have managed to win 2.
| KXIP vs RR Overall | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Played | KXIP | RR | No Result |
| 19 | 9 | 10 | 0 |
In the last 5 meetings, Kings XI Punjab have enjoyed an upper-hand over Rajasthan Royals. The Kings from Punjab have won 3 games out of the previous 5 and Rajasthan did secure a victory in only one game. One match was tied between the two sides which was won by Kings XI Punjab in the Super Over.
In 2019, the first game between the two sides was played at the RR home, Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur. The home side won the toss and opted to bowl first. Kings XI Punjab had a poor start as Dhawal Kulkarni dismissed KL Rahul in the first over itself. But the other opener Chris Gayle went about his business as usual. He added 56 runs for the 2nd wicket with Mayank Agarwal (22 runs) in 8.1 overs. After the dismissal of Agarwal, Gayle found a perfect Ally in Sarafraz Khan. The duo added 84 runs for the 3rd wicket in just 6 overs to give the Kings a substantial boost. Gayle played a knock of 79 runs of 47 deliveries before getting out. Khan gave the finishing touches to the Punjab innings and remained unbeaten at a score of 46 runs off 29 deliveries. The visitors finished with a total of 184/4 after 20 overs. Jofra Archer was the most impressive bowler for the Royals as the English pacer gave away only 17 runs in his 4 overs. He failed to pick any wicket though.
In reply, Ajinkya Rahane and Jos Buttler gave Rajasthan a flying start. The duo added 78 runs for the first wicket off 49 deliveries before Rahane was dismissed at a score of 27. Jos Buttler kept scoring boundaries, but soon he was run out by Ashwin at a score of 69 runs off 43 deliveries. Sanju Samson (30 runs) and Steven Smith (20 runs) tried to hold the innings together, but the Royals had a dramatic collapse one the duo was dismissed. They lost their last 7 wickets for 22 runs and were restricted to a total of 170/9 in their 20 overs. Kings XI Punjab won the game by 14 runs as the skipper Ravi Ashwin returned with the figures of 1/20 in 4 overs.
The reverse fixture was played at Kings XI Punjab home, PCA IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali. Rajasthan Royals won the toss for the 2nd time and invited the home side to bat first. KXIP had a decent start as the duo of KL Rahul, and Chris Gayle added 38 runs for the first wicket before Gayle was dismissed at a score of 30 runs off 22 deliveries. Rahul built another mini partnership of 31 runs with Mayank Agarwal (26 runs) for the 2nd wicket. It was David Miller who built a solid foundation alongside Rahul for the Kings as the duo added 85 runs for the 3rd wicket before Rahul was dismissed after a well-made fifty. David Miller got out towards the end after scoring 40 runs off 27 deliveries, but Ravi Ashwin did well to score 17 runs off just 4 deliveries to take KXIP to a total of 182/6. Jofra Archer returned with the figures of 3/15 in 4 overs. Chasing the target, Rajasthan Royals had a good start courtesy Rahul Tripathi (50 runs) and Jos Buttler (23 runs). However, the Royals failed to build a substantial partnership and kept losing wickets on the regular intervals. Stuart Binny did play the hands of 33 runs unbeaten off 11 deliveries towards the end, but they were not enough as the Royals were restricted to 170/7 in 20 overs. Kings XI Punjab completed a season double over Rajasthan Royals with a 12 runs victory. Ravi Ashwin returned with the figures of 2/24 in 4 overs.
| LAST 5 ENCOUNTERS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Played | KXIP | RR | No Result |
| 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
Stylish KL Rahul has mustered a total of 225 runs in just 4 innings against RR at a strike rate of over 134. Chris Gayle follows him with 188 runs under his belt against Rajasthan Royals scored in 4 innings. While Glenn Maxwell has managed to score 97 runs in 3 innings, Mayan Agarwal has scored 50 runs in 3 innings for KXIP against RR.
Sanju Samson leads the batting charts for Rajasthan Royals against Kings XI Punjab among the current players. He has scored 273 runs in 10 innings averaging 39 against Punjab. He is followed by Jos Buttler with 225 runs in 4 innings scored at a strike rate of over 143. Ben Stokes and Shreyas Gopal has scored 32 runs and 25 runs respectively against KXIP in 3 innings each.
| TOP 4 BATSMEN (among current players) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kings XI Punjab | |||||||||
| No. | Player | Innings | Not out | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | 100s | 50s | |
| 1 | KL Rahul | 4 | 2 | 235 | 117.50 | 134.29 | 0 | 3 | |
| 2 | CH Gayle | 4 | 0 | 118 | 29.50 | 145.68 | 0 | 1 | |
| 3 | GJ Maxwell | 3 | 0 | 97 | 32.33 | 173.21 | 0 | 1 | |
| 4 | MA Agarwal | 3 | 0 | 50 | 16.67 | 128.21 | 0 | 0 | |
| Rajasthan Royals | |||||||||
| No. | Player | Innings | Not out | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | 100s | 50s | |
| 1 | SV Samson | 10 | 3 | 273 | 39.00 | 127.57 | 0 | 1 | |
| 2 | JC Buttler | 4 | 0 | 225 | 56.25 | 143.31 | 0 | 3 | |
| 3 | BA Stokes | 3 | 0 | 32 | 10.67 | 145.45 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | S Gopal | 3 | 1 | 25 | 12.50 | 138.89 | 0 | 0 | |
Among current players, Mujeeb ur Rahman has accounted for 7 wickets in 4 games against Rajasthan Royals. Indian pacer Mohammad Shami and Arshdeep Singh have picked up 2 wickets each, while Murgan Ashwin has registered one wicket against his name for KXIP against Rajasthan Royals.
Top Bowlers for Rajasthan Royals Jofra Archer has accounted for 5 wickets against KXIP for Rajasthan Royals in 4 innings. Ben Stokes follows him with 4 wickets in 3 innings against the Punjab-based franchise. He is followed by Jaydev Unadkat and Rahul Tewatia with 2 wickets each against their name in four and two innings respectively.
| TOP 4 BOWLERS (among current players) | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kings XI Punjab | |||||||||||||||
| No. | Player | Innings | Wickets | 5w | 4w | ||||||||||
| 1 | Mujeeb Ur Rahman | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Mohammed Shami | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Arshdeep Singh | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 4 | M Ashwin | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| Rajasthan Royals | |||||||||||||||
| No. | Player | Innings | Wickets | 5w | 4w | ||||||||||
| 1 | JC Archer | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 2 | BA Stokes | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 3 | JD Unadkat | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 4 | R Tewatia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||