Will Ravichandran Ashwin-led Kings XI Punjab conquer Rajasthan Royals?

Ravichandran Ashwin

After the announcement of the Indian squad for the World Cup, the teams can now focus solely on the IPL. Kings XI Punjab, under the leadership of R Ashwin, seems a determined lot.

His aggressive captaincy has been a revelation and looks eager to take the team all the way. Fifth on the points table, he would be desperate to improve the team's standing when they take on Rajasthan Royals here tonight.

KXIP have won 50% of their matches (4 of 8) and will need to improve that percentage if they hope to make it to the playoffs. Royals have won just two of their seven matches.

The bowling attack of Kings XI has been good only in patches. They failed to defend 197 against MI the other day with Kieron Pollard's knock of 31-ball 83 blowing them away.

In their last game against RCB, Punjab's bowling again failed as they allowed the opposition overhaul the target of 173 with four balls to spare.

Mohammad Shami, Andrew Tye and all-rounder Sam Curran bled too many runs to hurt the hosts and they will need to bowl a tight line to support their skipper R Ashwin, who has the ability to frustrate even top batsmen with his intelligent bowling.

"We let ourselves down on the field. We have a few more games at home and We need to string some wins and gain some momentum," Ashwin had said.

Rajasthan, on the other hand, comes into this match with a win under their belt. They defeated Mumbai Indians on the latter's home turf by four wickets and are currently placed at the seventh spot with two wins from seven matches.

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