IPL 2021 Match Prediction: Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals. 32nd Match. Who Will Win?

The 32nd match of the 2021 IPL will see the Punjab Kings take on the Rajasthan Royals. This is an interesting game from an IPL gambling perspective since both of these teams are pretty evenly matched. They have both made major changes to their overseas players, so there could be some big changes in the way that both teams line up. Read on to find out our IPL prediction of who we think will be the victors in this match.

Punjab Kings Team Preview

The Punjab Kings have managed just three wins from eight games so far, and they have definitely been underperforming. They will now be without three of their big overseas players since Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, and Dawid Malan are not available.

However, they have added Adil Rashid, Nathan Ellis, and Aiden Markram to their team. We do not feel that Ellis will get game time right away, but Rashid will definitely make a huge difference to their squad – he has been in really good form for England over the last couple of years.

With this being said though, there are some gaps in their lineup. For example, KL Rahul finds it difficult to keep a high strike rate and can hurt his team when he does not score big. Then there is Chris Gayle, who is not a bit hit and miss. Also, the likes of Deepal Hooda and Shahrukh Khan have not delivered in the lower order. Nicholas Pooran has bags of potential, we all know that, but with four ducks in six games, he is not guaranteed to play.

When it comes to their bowling lineup, they have a pretty good attack with the likes of Chris Jordan, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammad Shami, and Rashid. This should be more than enough to cause plenty of issues to opposing batsmen, it is just whether their own batsmen step up to the plate and deliver big scores.

Rajasthan Royals Team Preview

The Rajasthan Royals will be without the services of Ben Stokes, Andrew Tye, Jos Buttler, and Jofra Archer. These are big names to be missing, but we actually feel that they might be in a better place for the second half of the 2021 IPL. In fact, we feel that they are a team that IPL bettors should keep an eye on.

We expect to see the likes of Liam Livingstone and Evin Lewis in their staritng eleven since both players are in really good form. Lewis just broke a record for hitting the most sixes in the Caribbean Premier League, while Livingstone recently hit England's fastest T20 century. Additionally, Livingstone will add some bowling quality thanks to his spin.

The batting lineup is completed with the likes of Riyan Parag, Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Chris Morris and Rahul Tewatia, making their line up very formidable indeed. We feel that they have an advantage over their opponents in the batting lineup department.

However, we feel that their bowling attack is their weak link. Their spinners really struggled in first half of the 2021 IPL, and we are not sure that things will change that much in the second half of the tournament. However, they have Mustafizur Rahman, who has been in excellent form for Bangladesh recently. They will be hoping that he carries this form into the resumption of the 2021 IPL.

Toss Prediction

The team that manages to win the toss will probably want to bowl first. The pitches are obvious going to be at their freshest now, so the chasing team will have a tiny advantage. In tight IPL matches, a small advantage can be the difference between winning and losing a match.

Pitch and Conditions

The pitch at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium will be pretty flat, but it does not have the same bounce that the wicket at Abu Dhabi does. It should favour spin bowlers a bit, but for the most part batsmen should be able to play their shots after playing themselves in. The team that bats first will want to score at least 175 runs as this is the par score when batting first at this venue.

Our Match Prediction

We think this will be a close match, but we think that the Rajasthan Royals will go on to win because they have batsmen that are better at hitting sixes, overseas batsmen in great form, and batsmen that are good at playing spin. On the other hand, the Punjab Kings might struggle to find a correct balance in this game.

Our match prediction: