Last Updated on 3 months by Charbel Coorey

IPL 2021 Match 4: RR vs PBKS Dream11 Prediction Possible Playing 11 Pitch Report | RR vs PBKS Dream11 Prediction Today | Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings | Key Players | Mumbai Pitch Report

Indian Premier League 2021 is well up and running and its time for Rahul’s Men to take on the Royals at Mumbai. This is one battle that promises to be a box-office clash.

Punjab Kings will start the season with a new name and they will hope that the new name also brings a change in fortune for them. In the last edition, they were down and out in the first half of the season until Gayle stormed into the Playing 11 and revived them. They had plenty of positives to take after that and would be hoping to have a good start on the back of that.

In the auction, they did reasonably well and got the services of Jhye Richardson, Riley Meridith, and David Malan. Without having a second thought, their team is well-balanced and the onus will be on Coach Kumble to get the combination right.

On the flip side, the Rajasthan Royals started their IPL 2020 campaign brilliantly, but soon fell off the radar. The Rajasthan-based franchise also made a bold move ahead of the auction when they shipped out their Captain Steve Smtih and granted the captaincy duties to Sanju Samson. 

During the auction, they managed to land Chris Morris for a record fee, who will have a big say in how their tournament shapes up. They also have Indian- Allrounder Shivam Dube who is expected to be an integral part of the squad.

Key Players to Watch/Key Stats

• KL Rahul – The Run Machine!  KL was the Orange Cap winner in the last edition with 670 runs from his 14 innings at an average of 55.83. With his red-hot form from the England ODIs, another similar season is on the cards for him.
• He likes playing against Royals and averages 55.7 against them with 390 runs from his 9 innings. KL wrecks havoc at this venue – pick him or regret.
• Mayank Agarwal – Agarwal had a good season as well keeping in mind that he was injured and missed few games still managed 424 runs from 11 innings at an average of 38.54.
• Against Royals, he averages 29.9 with 269 runs from his 9 innings. While batting second, he has just 64 runs from his 4 innings at an average of 16.
• Chris Gayle – Universe Boss! Arguably the greatest ambassador for T20 Cricket. Punjab Kings made a comeback in the previous edition on the back of Gayle’s 288 runs in 7 innings. Against Royals, he has 499 runs from 16 innings at an average of 35.6. 
• Nicholas Pooran – Nicky P had a good IPL 2020 as well with 353 runs from 14 innings at an average of 35.30. Against Royals, he has 64 runs from 4 innings at an average of 21.3.  He has a better record while batting second.
• Mohammad Shami – Shami was the highest wicket-taker for Punjab Kings in IPL 2020 with 20 wickets. Against Royals, he has 7 wickets from his 7 innings. Overall in his T20 career, he has a better record while bowling first.
• Jyhe Richardson – Big Bash’s highest wicket-taker will be making his IPL debut this season. He is a genuine wicket-taker and his figures suggest that he does well while bowling second. He can contribute with the bat as well if required.
• Ravi Bishno i- Young Bishnoi was very impressive last season. He had 14 scalps from his 12 games. However, against Royals, he has played twice and gone wicketless. He has a better record while bowling first.
• One between Fabian Allen and Riley Meredith will play and as the venue is Wankhede, Meredith might get the nod ahead of Allen. Meredith is coming back from his impressive T20I debut against New Zealand.

Rajasthan Royals

• Ben Stokes – One of the fittest cricketers in the world, Stokes came to the party late in IPL 2020 due to personal reasons and ended up with 285 runs from his 8 innings. Against Kings, he has made 132 runs from his 5 innings. He has just played once at this venue and scored 17 runs.
• Jos Buttler – Buttler needs no introduction! In IPL 2020 he made 361 runs from 9 games. Against Kings, he averages 45.1 with 361 runs from his 9 innings. He has played for Mumbai Indians in past and knows this venue well. Playing at Wankhede he has 362 runs from 12 innings, so far he has done batting second here.
• Sanju Samson – Captain Samson! Like many others, this is Samson’s last chance to break into India’s T20I WC squad. He had a hot & cold season last year which ended up with 375 runs from 14 innings. Against Kings, he has 512 runs from his 16 innings at an average of 39.4.
• Chris Morris – Morris is a machine! He missed out on the opening matches of the last edition with injury and ended up with 11 wickets from his 9 innings. Against Kings, he has 13 wickets from his 11 innings. Out of 13 wickets, 8 wickets have come while bowling first. Needless to say, he can contribute with the bat as well.
• Rahul Tewatia – The match is against Kings, and is it even possible that we don’t mention Tewatia? Tewatia had a breakout last season. He ended up with 255 runs from 14 matches and also picked 10 wickets. Against Kings, he has 102 runs and 3 wickets from his 4 innings. 
• Shivam Dube –  Under Kumar Sangakara, Dube has a golden chance to improve his skillset and roar back into the Indian team. Dube scored 129 runs and picked 4 wickets last season. Against Kings, he has 2 wickets and 35 runs from 2 matches.
• Shreyas Gopal – Gopal leads the spin department for Royals and ended with 10 wickets last season. Against Kings, he has played thrice and picked 2 wickets. Gopal also knows the conditions quite well at Wankhede as he was part of Mumbai Indians once.
• Andrew Tye – Tye did not get much game time last season and he picked up a wicket from the only game he played. In the absence of Jofra Archer, one between Tye and Fiz will play. Tye was part of King’s camp earlier, he has played once against them and picked 2 wickets while bowling first.
• Mustafizur Rahman – Fiz is coming back to IPL after a couple of seasons. Against Kings, he has picked 3 wickets from his 2 innings. He has played for Mumbai Indians and knows the venue.

Stats & Facts

• Overall Played  21| Kings won 9| Royals won 12
• Royals have dominated against Kings while batting second.
• 80% Games at Wankhede are won batting second.

Predicted Playing XI

Punjab Kings: 1. KL Rahul (c & wk), 2. Mayank Agarwal, 3. Chris Gayle, 4. Nicholas Pooran (wk), 5. Shahrukh Khan, 6. Jalaj Saxena/Saurabh Kumar, 7. Jhye Richardson, 8. Riley Meredith, 9. M Ashwin/Ravi Bishnoi, 10. Arshdeep Singh, 11. Mohammed Shami

Rajasthan Royals: 1. Ben Stokes, 2. Manan Vohra/Liam Livingstone, 3. Sanju Samson (c & wk), 4. Jos Buttler, 5. Riyan Parag, 6. Shivam Dube, 7. Chris Morris, 8. Rahul Tewatia, 9. Shreyas Gopal, 10. Mustafizur Rahman/Jaydev Unadkat, 11. Kartik Tyagi/Chetan Sekariya

Wankhede Mumbai Pitch Report and Weather

Michael Slater, in his pitch report, said 176 is the average score batting first at this ground. The square boundaries are short on both sides. Nice grass covering, for the bowlers, it’s all about bowling in the right areas. The batsmen would love this surface.

Wankhede Pitch is known as a belter of a wicket and it is also one of the best batting surfaces offered in India. A similar wicket is expected again. A warm day and evening is forecast for Mumbai.

Dream11 Prediction

Option 1:

Option 2:

Match Prediction

This is a tough battle to predict as both sides are evenly matched. It could easily be a close thriller.

However, the change in name might go well with Punjab Kings and they start on a winning note.

Written by Shekhar Singh. Follow Shekhar on Twitter today.