1. Team News – Punjab Kings
Punjab Kings will see the return of their captain KL Rahul to the 11 alongside a few more changes as they replaced the likes of Dawid Malan, Riley Meredith and Jhye Richardson with Aiden Markram, Adil Rashid and Nathan Ellis. With the wickets assisting slower bowlers, Punjab may opt for players fit for the role.
2. Team News – Rajasthan Royals
The Royals have replaced Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Andrew Tye with Evin Lewis, Glenn Phillips, Oshane Thomas and Tabraiz Shamsi going into the second phase of IPL 2021. And with many changes to the squad and the return of few stars, who missed out in the first half, Royals will make quite a few changes to their line up. And like PBKS, RR also may bulk up the spin options.
3. Probable Playing 11s
PBKS XI: KL Rahul (captain/wicketkeeper), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Shahrukh Khan, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh
RR XI: Sanju Samson (captain/wicketkeeper), Evin Lewis, Yashasvi Jaiswal/Manan Vohra, David Miller, Shivam Dube, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Mustafizur Rahman/Tabraiz Shamsi, Chetan Sakariya
4. Dream11 Team Prediction
As far as the dream11 combination is concerned, form matters and with players arriving from International assignments and Caribbean Premier League stints, selection will be a little hard in the early stages. However, a few players are first choice given their ability in the T20 format.
Dream11 best pick: KL Rahul (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Adil Rashid, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Chetan Sakariya