Rajasthan Royals v Punjab Kings predictions and cricket betting tips

Where to watch Rajasthan Royals v Punjab Kings

Sky Sports Cricket, 3pm Wednesday

Best bet

Rajasthan highest opening partnership
2pts 10-11 bet365

Rajasthan Royals v Punjab Kings predictions

Rajasthan Royals' attempt to go one better than last season got off to the perfect start on Sunday as the 2022 IPL runners-up demolished Sunrisers Hyderabad by 72 runs in their season opener.

Rajasthan blew away the Sunrisers from the off as Yashasvi Jaiswal joined Jos Buttler to put on 85 runs for the opening partnership and they' be hoping for a repeat performance in their second outing of IPL 2023 against the Punjab Kings.

Buttler was the driving force behind Rajasthan's run to last year's final, winning the Orange Cup as the IPL's leading runscorer with 863 runs from 17 matches, and he's picked up where he left off having won the T20 World Cup with England in the interim.

His partner Jaiswal has scored at least 21 runs in each of his last three IPL innings across two seasons, and while he hasn't tended to kick on and score big runs, he has proved a solid foil for the England limited-overs captain.

The Kings look set to be boosted by the return of Liam Livingstone but Shikhar Dhawan has lost his regular opening partner, Livingstone's England colleague Jonny Bairstow, and he's now joined at the top of the order by the talented but inexperienced Prabhsimran Singh.

That spells trouble against Rajasthan's new-ball specialist Trent Boult, who claimed two wickets from his first five balls against Hyderabad. With both the batting and the bowling dangerous, the Royals should post the highest opening partnership.

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