RR vs PBKS: Sanju Samson's Rajasthan Royals face Shikhar Dhawan's Punjab Kings in the 8th match of IPL 2023. The two teams will lock horns at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati as IPL will be played in North-East for the very first time. Meanwhile, RR skipper is set to shatter a record held by an Indian veteran.
Samson has scored 3096 runs for Rajasthan Royals in all T20 games that he has played for them. The skipper is just 2 runs short of becoming the leading run-scorer for RR in all T20s. Former RR player Ajinkya Rahane has scored 3098 runs as he is currently the leading run-scorer for them in T20s. Samson can well and truly achieve the feat if he scores 3 runs in the match against PBKS.
Rajasthan Royals have a strong core in their squad. The likes of Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shimron Hetmyer boost their batting, while Trent Boult, Ravi Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal provide fire in the bowling. Their batters starred in their tournament opener against SRH while Chahal led the bowling unit to tear apart the Hyderabad lineup.
While there has been no IPL game played at the venue, Rajasthan batters will like to garner some runs on the batting-friendly track. The pitch at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium is a batting paradise. There have been no IPL games played at the venue and only 3 T20Is have been held here. The previous T20I held here was between India and South Africa and that witnessed 458 runs being scored for the loss of 6 wickets.
Rajasthan Royals Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, KM Asif, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Dhruv Jurel, Sandeep Sharma, Murugan Ashwin, Donavon Ferreira, Kunal Singh Rathore, Abdul Basith, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, Obed McCoy, KC Cariappa, Akash Vasisht, Adam Zampa, Joe Root
