Top player battles to watch out for in the PBKS vs RR IPL 2025 match

The second game of the Super Saturday Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) double-header will be played between the Punjab Kings (PBKS) and the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on 5 April, 2025. Both these teams will be feeling very much high on confidence as they are coming into this match after registering amazing victories in their respective previous outings in the ongoing edition of the T20 competition. The Punjab Kings got the better of Lucknow Super Giants in their most recent IPL 2025 encounter while the Rajasthan Royals finally picked up their opening win of the tournament when they defeated the Chennai Super Kings. Thus, it will be important for both these teams to built on this winning momentum further in the competition as well. 

PBKS vs RR IPL head to head battle

Punjab Kings have kickstarted their Indian Premier League 2025 campaign on a sensational note with two back-to-back victories against Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants. Moreover, they are looking a very balanced and dangerous unit this year under the in-form captain Shreyas Iyer. On the other hand, it was a really disappointing start for the Rajasthan Royals in the ongoing tournament after they succumbed to two consecutive defeats at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders. However, Rajasthan Royals came back strongly to defeat the Chennai Super Kings in Guwahati. 

It has been an exciting head to head battle between the Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals in the IPL history so far. Out of the 28 games played between these two teams, the Rajasthan Royals are ahead with a total of 16 wins while the Punjab Kings have emerged victorious on 12 occasions. During the IPL 2024 face-offs, both these sides ended up winning one match each. 

3 player battles to watch out for in the PBKS vs RR IPL 2025 match

1. Shreyas Iyer vs Sandeep Sharma

After some staggering performances in India's fabulous triumph at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Shreyas Iyer has continued his impressive form for the Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League 2025 season as well. The right-handed PBKS captain is currently the fourth highest run-getter in this T20 tournament with a total of 149 runs from 2 games and he is yet to be dismissed this year. On the other hand, veteran pacer Sandeep Sharma once again showed his class in the last game against Chennai Super Kings where he successfully defended 20 runs in the final over with MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja at the crease. 

While talking about the head-to-head battle between these two cricketers, Sandeep Sharma has had the upper hand to a great extent. Iyer has a below-par strike-rate of 84 and has been dismissed as many as three times by the veteran pacer. 

2. Sanju Samson vs Arshdeep Singh

Despite not being fully fit, Sanju Samson scored an impressive fifty in the first match against Sunrisers Hyderabad and also got a start in the last match against Chennai Super Kings. On the other side, left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh has continued his exceptional wicket-taking form in this IPL 2025 season as well. He has taken as many as 5 wickets from a couple of matches at an average of 15.80. The Punjab Kings pace bowling spearhead has not found much of success against the Rajasthan Royals captain in the IPL face-offs. Samson has a remarkable strike-rate of nearly 185 and has been dismissed just once against Arshdeep. 

3. Nitish Rana vs Yuzvendra Chahal

During the last match against Chennai Super Kings, left-handed batter Nitish Rana played an excellent innings of 81 runs off just 36 balls that included 10 fours and 5 sixes. The highest wicket-taker in the history of the Indian Premier League, Yuzvendra Chahal, has not started really well this year. However, the right-arm legspinner still ended up picking the prized scalp of Nicholas Pooran in the last match against Lucknow Super Giants. Chahal has dominated the proceedings against Nitish Rana in this competition. Rana has a poor strike-rate of below 120 and has been dismissed a total of six times against the leggie.