Punjab and Rajasthan will go against each other in the Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday, 21st of September in the 32nd match of the Indian T20 League. Both the teams will be playing their first match after the long halt due to the pandemic. Talking about their positions on the points table, both Punjab and Rajasthan couldn't perform their best in the first phase of the league. Rajasthan secured 3 wins out of 7 matches and is currently at the 6th position in the points table, on the other hand, Punjab had a rather tough beginning, with just 3 wins out of 8 matches. Punjab holds the penultimate position in the points table.
It will be a do or die situation for Punjab as well as Rajasthan as their hopes for going all the way to the playoffs are bleak. Considering the performance of the top tier teams, like Chennai, Delhi and Bangalore, in the current season of the Indian T20 League, Punjab and Rajasthan will have to be very industrious to make their way to the top and for that to happen, they need to pull out all their stops.
Punjab's playing their second match against Rajasthan in this season. And their first match, in the beginning of this season, against Rajasthan had some intense action as they chased down 221 and sealed their win. We would most likely see a replica of the first match they played against each other as both the teams love to chase big targets. We had seen a similar match last September in the League's 13th season where Rajasthan successfully chased 223 runs against Punjab that too in 19.3 overs. Given their previous clashes, you can surely expect some big action in the Dubai International Stadium as the pitch gives an edge to the batsmen.
Weather Report
With almost no chances of precipitation, the skies will be clear on the match day with a little humid weather. The temperature will hover around 30-32 degrees.
Pitch Report
The pitch being completely flat gives batsmen what they need. Also, the pitch at Dubai does not have a good bounce. Hence, pacers will lag there a bit but spinners will fill that gap.
Probable Playing XI For Punjab
KL Rahul (c & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle/Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Shahrukh Khan, Adil Rashid, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Mohammed Shami
Probable Playing XI For Rajasthan
Evin Lewis, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Liam Livingstone, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Chetan Sakariya, Kartik Tyagi, Mustafizur Rahman/Tabraiz Shamsi.
Key Players: Punjab
KL Rahul, Chris Gayle
Key Players: Rajasthan
Sanju Samson, Chris Morris
