IPL 2025, RR vs PBKS Live Updates: Punjab Kings resume playoffs race against depleted Rajasthan Royals
RR vs PBKS IPL 2025 Live, Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings: Follow match updates
RR vs PBKS IPL 2025 Live Updates, Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings: The much-awaited resumption of the IPL 2025 season didn't quite go to plan, as the match between RCB and KKR was abandoned without a single delivery bowled due to bad weather. Hopefully, after what is now 10 days of waiting, fans will be able to see some IPL action back on their screens, this time in the first match of a Sunday double-header. In the baking heat of Jaipur, it is the Rajasthan Royals playing host to Punjab Kings, battling for a playoff spot. ...Read More
The hosts have already been eliminated from contention after a season to forget, full of losses that should have been wins, every success matched by some sort of abject failure. Nevertheless, there is a lot to look forward to when RR play, in particular their terrific young opening combination. Yashasvi Jaiswal has been consistent through the season and just off the pace for the Orange Cap, being supported by the bold and fearless powerful hitting of Vaibhav Suryavanshi. There are a lot of players missing for RR as Jofra Archer doesn't return for the last part of this tournament and Nitish Rana misses out through injury, but they are provided a boost through the likely return of captain Sanju Samson from injury. If Samson can slide into number three, RR look like a much more comfortable and dangerous batting order.
The question will be if they have enough bowling firepower to keep a destructive Punjab Kings team quiet. They had success last time out, as they beat PBKS which is retrospectively one of the bigger upsets of this tournament. But that was on the back of Jofra Archer wreaking havoc up front: with Archer missing, and Sandeep Sharma injured, the pace attack looks a little toothless. RR are mostly battling for pride, but some of the players on show will also be trying to prove a point: can they dig deep and find enough to overcome a team that looks bound for the playoffs?
This is a game that Punjab Kings, meanwhile, will see as a must-win. Their last two games are tough assignments against Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, and they will want the buffer of being on 17 points heading into either of those games. The advantage for Punjab is that all three matches are set to be played in Jaipur, becoming a proxy home venue for them: they will have plenty of time to get accustomed to conditions and figure out what the best approach to games at this venue will be. PBKS aren't officially through even if they win today, but you have to imagine there isn't a world in which Shreyas Iyer's men fail to make the playoffs if they win today, with the momentum that would give them.
Their intention will also be to finish in the top two. A win takes them comfortably into at least second place, while a big win might even push them above RCB on NRR. There is plenty of talent that has found a groove in Ricky Ponting's team, and they're difficult to bet against in this game, even if they lost the reverse fixture. That match was a long time ago as the tournament goes — but can RR match that gameplan, even with fewer resources at hand?
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May 18, 2025 12:15 PM IST
RR vs PBKS IPL 2025 Live Updates, Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings: Hello and welcome to our live blog of RR vs PBKS IPL match from Jaipur.
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