Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson has won the toss and elected to bowl against Punjab Kings in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh, on Saturday.
Sam Curran will lead Punjab tonight as 'Dhawan has picked up niggle,' Curran said at the toss. Taide comes in for Dhawan.
Rajasthan have two changes with Buttler and Ashwin rested. Rovman Powell and Kotian come in for the duo.
Playing XIs:
Punjab Kings: Jonny Bairstow, Atharva Taide, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran(c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c&w), Riyan Parag, Rovman Powell, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Tanush Kotian, Trent Boult, Keshav Maharaj, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Sen, Yuzvendra Chahal
Punjab Kings Impact Subs: Rahul Chahar, Ashutosh Sharma, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Nathan Ellis
Rajasthan Impact Subs: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Shubham Dubey, Navdeep Saini, Abid Mushtaq
A disappointed Rajasthan Royals will have to focus on better execution of their strategies for a swift turnaround when they face a highly inconsistent yet capable Punjab Kings in their Indian Premier League match in Mullanpur on Saturday.
They were stopped in their tracks by Gujarat Titans last match and as such, they would want to treat it as an aberration and dish out a more refined outing against the Punjab side.
But it also highlighted some muddled thinking.
The Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan outfit lost to the Titans because of the below-par effort from Kuldeep Sen (19th over) and Avesh Khan (20th over) at a vital passage, when they conceded 35 runs across 12 balls.
Here, the Royals made a slight tactical error by not letting Trent Boult complete his quota in that match as the veteran left-arm pacer ended the match at 2-0-8-0.
There is no gainsaying that Boult could have made a change in the script, but Samson leaving that option unused was a tad perplexing.
The primary reason for their middling run this year is the patchy form of their fancied batsmen as Punjab relied on cameos by uncapped Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma to boost their batting.
Opener Jonny Bairstow (5 matches, 81 runs) and middle-order batter Jitesh Sharma (5 matches, 77 runs) are the most underwhelming of the lot, and it has robbed them of momentum upfront and in the business end of their innings.
Sam Curran has been above average with the ball, taking six wickets from five matches but the England all-rounder's needle has fallen behind from the halfway mark with the bat, despite scoring a 63.
The absence of injured Liam Livingstone from the middle-order too has reduced their firepower, and Kings will hope to have the Englishman back in their ranks at the earliest.
On the contrary, the Punjab bowlers have done marginally better, but their propensity to concede big runs while bowling first will be a concern.