Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings will relaunch their IPL 2025 campaigns after suffering losses in their previous match. Both squads aim to qualify for the top four positions; thus making this matchup essential.
Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh have been stellar for the Kings this season and can get them off to an explosive start. Here’s an analysis of their rajasthan royals vs punjab kings match scorecard and head-to-head record over time.
| Date | Venue | Winner | Margin | Score Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 May 2025 | Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur | Punjab Kings | 10 runs | PBKS 219/5 vs RR 209/7 (Sportskeeda, The Times of India) |
| 5 Apr 2025 | Mullanpur, Chandigarh | Rajasthan Royals | 50 runs | RR 205/4 vs PBKS 155/9 (Punjab Kings, Sportskeeda, Cricbuzz) |
| 15 May 2024 | Guwahati | Punjab Kings | 5 wickets | PBKS won by 5 wickets (myKhel, Jagranjosh.com) |
| 13 Apr 2024 | Mullanpur / Mohali (depending on source) | Rajasthan Royals | 3 wickets | RR won by 3 wickets (myKhel, Probo) |
| 19 May 2023 | Dharamsala | Rajasthan Royals | 4 wickets | RR won by 4 wickets (myKhel, Jagranjosh.com) |
Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals can strengthen their chances of finishing in the top four this Indian Premier League season by winning their opening home game of 2019. At present they sit ninth but with victory against Punjab Kings they could move up one place and get some breathing room from Delhi Capitals.
Punjab Kings have made an excellent start to this year’s IPL competition, winning two of their opening three matches and looking formidable throughout. A major boost has come with veteran batsman Virender Sehwag’s return, who will play his 200th IPL game tonight against Rajasthan Royals despite their stellar form. A loss against them could tarnish morale further and affect chances of making the playoffs.
Rajasthan Royals had an outstanding start to their match and amassed an impressive total. Led by Yashasvi Jaiswal’s aggressive strokeplay and Sanju Samson’s strong presence at both ends, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson put on an opening stand of 89 runs which set the pace for their innings. Other members like Hetmyer and Jurel contributed significantly towards an impressive scorecard.
Jofra Archer, Sandeep Sharma and Maheesh Theekshana all took one wicket apiece to reduce Punjab to 155/6, enough for a comfortable win for their hosts.
Sanju Samson was dissatisfied with RR’s performance during their chase. He commented that they started off well but failed to build upon it, needing partnerships in the middle, and should have batted a little slower. Furthermore, Sanju noted they must learn from mistakes made with both bat and ball and analyse why things went amiss in retrospect.
Nehal Wadhera will add depth and variety to a Royals side that already boasts a good mix of batsmen. He has already been an effective performer this season for them and hopes to build on that form at Mohali. Wadhera is known as an accurate hard-hitter who is key for them retaining their title – this pitch at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium favours fast bowlers while being good surface for batters alike as the day wears on before becoming better after dark – making for high scoring encounters – where toss will play an integral part.
RR vs PBKS
On May 18 at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) faced off in an IPL match featuring high scoring cricket that saw both sides battle hard for playoff qualification – ultimately with PBKS coming out victorious thanks to an outstanding final over from Marco Jansen.
The Royals have struggled this season, winning only five matches so far and losing four consecutive ones to slip into ninth position in the table. Their efforts failed to impede PBKS’s surge to third position; these two sides have met 28 times in Indian Premier League since 2008 with Royals emerging victorious 17 times out of 28 encounters.
PBKS won the toss and elected to bat first in this matchup. Their opening pair of Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh were soon dismissed with just four runs scored in five overs before Riyan Parag made his mark by scoring 48 runs off 34 balls to help their side reach 159/5 from their allotted 20 overs. Additional strength was provided by Shashank Singh and Azmatullah Omarzai who ensured they would finish well above 200 runs scored.
In the powerplay, RBKS launched an impressive attack, smashing anything pitched fuller with ease and making dot balls an increasingly rare occurrence. Harpreet Brar did manage to stem this momentum by dismissing Yashasvi Jaiswal early, but by then their partnership had already amassed 67 runs off 29 balls, including both players hitting three sixes and eight fours during that stand.
RBKS made the most of their strong start to their chase and increased their odds of victory to 72% at the start of their innings, according to ESPNcricinfo’s Forecaster. Unfortunately, they ran out of steam towards the end of their innings and were bowled out for just 145 runs.
RR have had difficulty this season defending and bowlers have conceded too many runs. Their bowlers have struggled to stop run chases when on the front foot, failing to pick up wickets at crucial moments during games.
Due to injuries sustained by Sandeep Sharma they were forced to make changes with left-arm South African pacer Nandre Burger coming in to replace injured Sandeep Sharma while 19 year-old wicket-keeper Lhuan-dre Pretorius taking over from Nitish Rana as wicket keeper; nonetheless they remain favourites to win this match and secure their place in the play-offs; this matchup will put their strength against depth against a formidable Punjab team which will require them upping their game significantly if they want success!