PBKS vs RR IPL 2026: Rajasthan Royals middle-order is a cause of concern heading into their clash against Punjab Kings in Mullanpur on Tuesday.
Updated: April 28, 2026 12:14 PM IST
PBKS vs RR IPL 2026: New PCA Stadium in Mullanpur will be bracing for another Vaibhav Sooryavanshi storm as Rajasthan Royals take on unbeaten Punjab Kings in match no. 40 of the IPL 2026 season on Tuesday. Sooryavanshi is coming into this context on the back of his second IPL century in the last match in Jaipur against Sunrisers Hyderabad and will be ready to wreck more havoc against Shreyas Iyer’s table-toppers.
The 15-year-old RR opener has already blasted three fifties in 15 balls each in the IPL 2026 and has the 2nd highest strike-rate of over 234 currently in the season, only behind PBKS opener Priyansh Arya. The Royals will be hoping that their misfiring middle-order can back up Sooryavanshi against an impressive PBKS side at their home, as youngster may not be able to fire in every single match.
Experienced West Indies batter Shimron Hetmyer has been struggling for runs with only 72 so far in 7 matches while captain Riyan Parag hasn’t done much better either – scoring 88 runs in 8 matches. The pressure is definitely building on Parag as the race for the Playoffs stage is hotting up in the season.
The Royals could consider bringing in young South African southpaw Lhuan-dre Pretorius in place of Hetmyer for this crucial clash against PBKS. “I just think last game was probably a pretty good example of where Ricky has the batting group’s mindset. There obviously was a record chase there to go after, and the first ball of our innings, went flying over mid-wicket for six. And I think you’ll see that from both teams in this game. You’ve got two opening pairs that are so dynamic. They’ll go after the game, but that’s the mindset of the team,” PBKS assistant coach Brad Haddin said about the clash against the Royals.
Punjab Kings, on the other hand, managed to chase down a massive total of 265 but their bowlers – including Australian Xavier Bartlett – were put under the hammer by the Delhi Capitals batter just a couple of days back. Captain Iyer will be hoping for a much better bowling show at home to keep their winning run in the tournament.
“They (PBKS) chased down a big score, yes, in Delhi, but Chandigarh is a new ground and a new wicket, a new soil. So hopefully, it doesn’t go to that extent. We’d like to restrict them for lower,” Parag said about the match against PBKS.
Punjab Kings are unlikely to make many changes to their Playing 12 as they have been a roll this year without many injury concerns.
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 28, 2026
Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals IPL 2026 match no 40 Predicted 12
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Priyansh Arya, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Donovan Ferreira, Shimron Hetmyer/Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Brijesh Sharma, Nandre Burger, Ravi Bishnoi
