Rajasthan Royals, currently at the bottom of the table in IPL, simply have to win their clash against Kings XI Punjab on Tuesday in what is the final opportunity for England all-rounder Ben Stokes and pacer Jaydev Unadkat to justify their mega contracts.
Stokes was bought for just under $2 million in the IPL auction while the Royals spent $1.8m on Unadkat. However both players have failed spectacularly this season with Stokes scoring just 160 runs from nine innings and picking up two scalps at almost nine and a half an over, and Unadkat going at a shade under 10 an over in nine matches.
While the other Rajasthan T20 star D’Arcy Short has been well out of form, it’s up to Stokes and Unadkat to find their mark as they have done it before in the previous season.
Likely line-ups
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Heinrich Klaasen, Jos Buttler (wk), Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi, K Gowtham, Jofra Archer, K Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat.
Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul (wk), Chris Gayle, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, Axar Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Manoj Tiwary, Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Ankit Rajpoot, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Andrew Tye.
