Yashasvi Jaiswal has been grabbing headlines for the past few days — both for on-field and off-field reasons. Now that his domestic cricket move from Mumbai to Goa has been settled, the southpaw will be eager to get his focus back on his batting, and aim to hit top form in the Indian Premier League 2025, with the Rajasthan Royals gearing up for a high-stakes clash against table-toppers Punjab Kings at Mullanpur on Saturday evening.

The 22-year-old left-handed opener has endured a poor run in RR’s three IPL matches so far, with returns of 1, 29 and 4, and his failure hasn’t helped the team’s cause. While the Royals managed to notch a first win of the season, in their previous outing against Chennai Super Kings in Guwahati, under stand-in skipper Riyan Parag, Saturday’s match will also witness the return of a fully fit Sanju Samson assuming charge of the team.

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Having featured in all the three games as an impact substitute, Samson is also due for a big score with the bat, despite getting the starts. Nitish Rana has been in sublime form for the Royals, and would once again be expected to continue the momentum. In the middle order, the onus will be on Parag and Shimron Hetmyer to Shimron Hetmyer to provide the finishing firepower, alongside Dhruv Jurel.

Rajasthan’s bowling attack led by Englishman Jofra Archer and consisting the likes of Maheesh Theekshana, Wanindu Hasaranga and Tushar Despande looks a solid unit but against a dominant Punjab Kings batting, they would be expected to be sharp with their lengths.

Punjab’s batting appears to be a well-oiled machine with Prabhsimran Singh and skipper Shreyas Iyer leading the charts. Prabhsimran has been in sublime form in this season, and will be expected to guide his young opening partner Priyansh Arya when the duo takes the field in their first home match on Saturday. Besides the trio, Nehal Wadhera gave glimpses of his batting prowess in their previous match, with the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Shashank Singh and Marcus Stoinis vastly experienced to use the long handle to perfection.

Iyer, meanwhile, has led Punjab from the front with back-to-back half-centuries and already smashed 13 sixes in two games, to match his tally from the previous season. As the captain, Iyer has stood out with his field placements and extracting the best of all-rounders like Maxwell. His tactical acumen will once again be tested against the likes of Nitish Rana, his former KKR teammate, who dominated the CSK spinners in the team’s previous match.

While Rajasthan Royals hold the upper hand in their head-to-head rivalry with Punjab Kings, having emerged victorious in 16 of their 28 meetings, the home side have the luxury of their recent form to get the better of the visitors on Saturday. Unbeaten in the tournament so far, Punjab Kings’ boast a dynamic bowling line-up led by left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh.

Squads:

Punjab Kings: Shreyas Iyer (c), Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash, Harnoor Singh, Josh Inglis, Prabhsimran Singh, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Azmatullah Omarzai, Aaron Hardie, Marco Jansen, Glenn Maxwell, Musheer Khan, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Suryansh Shedge, Arshdeep Singh, Xavier Bartlett, Yuzvendra Chahal, Praveen Dubey, Lockie Ferguson, Harpreet Brar, Kuldeep Sen, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Thakur.

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (captain), Riyan Parag, Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Kunal Rathore, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Rana, Yudhvir Singh, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Wanindu Hasaranga, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kwena Maphaka, Ashok Sharma, Sandeep Sharma.