From the very first ball bowled in IPL history, the Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings fixture has been one of the league’s most reliably entertaining matchups — a contest that has delivered five-six finishes, record-shattering chases, one of cricket’s most celebrated individual over of sixes, and the full spectrum of T20 drama across 18 seasons. Cricket fans across India have tracked this rivalry since the inaugural IPL encounter on April 21, 2008, when Shane Warne’s unfancied Royals first demonstrated that experience, cunning, and team spirit could overcome individual star power.
This comprehensive Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings timeline traces every significant chapter — from Warne’s three-wicket debut masterclass against a Kings XI lineup built for batting, to Rahul Tewatia’s impossible five sixes off Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah, to the Mullanpur cricket ground’s emergence as the stage for IPL 2025’s most comprehensive demolitions. Whether you are searching for RR vs PBKS head-to-head records, complete match scorecards, or the names that have defined this fixture across nearly two decades, this is your definitive guide, available for Indian cricket fans on JioHotstar and Star Sports for every bilateral encounter.
Table of Contents
- Rivalry Overview & Head-to-Head Summary
- Season-by-Season Timeline (2008–2026)
- Complete Head-to-Head Records Table
- Season-Wise Results Summary
- Iconic Match Scorecards — Full Analysis
- Top Run-Scorers in RR vs PBKS Matches
- Top Wicket-Takers in RR vs PBKS Matches
- Venue-Wise Records
- Turning Points That Defined the Rivalry
- Star Players Who Shaped Each Era
- Match Summary & Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
Rivalry Overview & Head-to-Head Summary
Rajasthan Royals have played 31 matches against Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League since 2008. In the RR vs PBKS head-to-head, the Royals have won 18 while the Kings triumphed 13 times. The Royals’ and the Kings’ first meeting dates back to April 21, 2008, in the inaugural edition of IPL.
The rivalry’s identity has been shaped by a fascinating contrast of franchise philosophies. Rajasthan Royals, IPL’s inaugural champions, built their early reputation on team cohesion, tactical innovation under Shane Warne’s captaincy, and an uncanny ability to develop unknown players into match-winners — a philosophy that produced the tournament’s first title with a squad assembled at a fraction of the budget of their opponents.
Punjab Kings — originally Kings XI Punjab — have historically assembled star-studded batting lineups capable of posting extraordinary totals, yet the trophy cabinet remains empty after 18 seasons of competition. Punjab Kings have managed 13 victories, including a notable Super Over win, across their 31 encounters, but their inability to sustain consistency across a full tournament season has defined their IPL story just as much as their individual brilliance.
Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson has scored the most runs (632) in the clashes between the two teams in the IPL — a statistical fact that encapsulates the central role the wicketkeeper-batsman has played in defining RR’s batting philosophy across more than a decade of this fixture.
Season-by-Season Timeline
Phase 1 — The Warne Era & RR’s Title Season (2008–2011)
IPL 2008 — The Rivalry Begins: Warne and Watson Make an Immediate Statement
The Royals won the match by six wickets at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur with Shane Watson being adjudged the Player of the Match for scoring an unbeaten 76 off just 49 balls, which included five fours and five sixes. Shane Warne took three wickets for 19 runs with the ball.
The first ever RR vs PBKS encounter established the template that would define much of the rivalry’s first decade — Watson’s all-round excellence combining with Warne’s bowling craft to produce a result that sent a message to the rest of the IPL. Warne’s 3/19 — leg-spin delivered with the composure of a veteran who understood T20 psychology as well as any captain in the competition — stifled a Punjab batting lineup that had been constructed to score freely. Watson’s unbeaten 76 was the decisive counter-attack, his power through the off-side and aerial hitting over midwicket giving Rajasthan a platform they never relinquished.
The second meeting of 2008 at Mohali reversed the result, with Punjab winning by 41 runs on their home ground — confirming even in the rivalry’s inaugural season that home advantage would play a significant role in determining outcomes. Rajasthan won the IPL that year, defeating CSK in a last-ball final, with Warne and Watson central to every meaningful performance across 16 matches.
IPL 2009 — South Africa, Big Wins & Bilateral Parity
With the tournament relocated to South Africa due to Indian elections, both Rajasthan and Punjab navigated unfamiliar conditions on neutral pitches. PBKS and RR faced off twice, with both of them securing one victory each. RR’s biggest win in terms of runs came in IPL 2009 when they beat PBKS by 78 runs at Kingsmead in Durban — one of the most dominant single-match performances from Rajasthan in this fixture’s entire history, their bowling collectively dismantling Punjab’s batting on a ground that offered unexpected pace and bounce for the South African climate.
IPL 2010 — RR’s Most Comprehensive Victory Against Punjab
Rajasthan Royals’ nine-wicket win at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur in IPL 2010 is their biggest against Punjab Kings, who were called Kings XI Punjab back then. Michael Lumb top-scored for the Royals with 83 off 43 balls hitting 16 boundaries and two maximums en route to becoming the Player of the Match. Siddharth Trivedi chipped in with two wickets for the Royals.
A nine-wicket win is the most comprehensive margin possible in T20 cricket — losing only one wicket while chasing a target reflects a performance where the bowling team set a below-par total and the chasing team’s openers simply batted through without requiring lower-order support. Lumb’s 83 off 43 balls — 16 boundaries underscoring the precision of his placement rather than raw power — represents one of the most efficient individual batting performances from a Royals batsman in this fixture. In 2010, RR clearly had the upper hand when it came to head-to-head games against PBKS, securing two victories in two outings.
IPL 2011 — The Rivalry Takes a Breather
The 2011 season witnessed mid-table finishes for both teams, with PBKS and RR finishing the campaign in 5th and 6th positions respectively. The two teams only met once that season, limiting the rivalry’s contribution to that IPL’s narrative. The single encounter — a close contest that reflected both teams’ middling season-long form — nonetheless maintained the competitive standard that had characterised their meetings from the first ball in 2008.
Phase 2 — Emerging Stars & Close Contests (2012–2015)
IPL 2012 — Kevon Cooper’s Historic Bowling Figures
Kevon Cooper picked up four wickets for 26 runs off his four overs in the Royals’ 31-run win against the Kings at Jaipur during IPL 2012, to record the best bowling figures by a Royals player in this fixture’s history. Cooper’s 4/26 — achieved through variations in pace and angle that exploited Punjab’s batsmen’s eagerness to attack — represented a bowling masterclass in containing a team known for explosive batting. PBKS and RR met twice in 2012, and on both occasions, RR managed to outclass PBKS.
IPL 2013 — Youth vs Experience
By 2013, both franchises were operating with significantly different squad compositions from their inaugural lineups. Rajasthan had developed a strong domestic talent base — a teenage Sanju Samson joining the squad and immediately impressing with both his batting and keeping — while Punjab were building around Virender Sehwag’s destructive opening capabilities and the emerging fast bowling of Sandeep Sharma. In 2013, RR qualified for the playoffs but lost out to MI in the second semi-final.
Their head-to-head encounters that season produced one of the rivalry’s closer contests — both teams trading narrow victories in a pair of matches that reflected their overall quality and consistency through that IPL campaign.
IPL 2014 — Punjab’s Closest Title Challenge
In 2014, PBKS came closest yet to securing their first IPL title but lost out to KKR in the finals. RR and PBKS met twice in 2014, with PBKS emerging victorious on both occasions. The 2014 season was Punjab’s defining year as a franchise — the year they came closest to breaking their title drought — and their double victory over Rajasthan reflected a squad operating at near-peak performance. Glenn Maxwell’s explosive batting had elevated Punjab into one of the IPL’s most feared T20 sides, capable of posting 200-plus totals from positions that seemed far more modest in the opening powerplay.
IPL 2015 — Parity Restored
There were two RR vs PBKS head-to-heads in 2015, with each side winning one game each. The mutual exchange of victories maintained the competitive balance that had characterised the rivalry from its first season, neither franchise able to establish the consistent psychological edge that would make the fixture feel like a foregone conclusion for either set of supporters.
Phase 3 — The Suspension Years & Return (2016–2019)
2016–2017 — The Suspension Interruption
Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings were suspended from IPL participation for two seasons (2016 and 2017) due to the betting and spot-fixing investigations that followed the 2013 IPL season. Their absence from the competition significantly disrupted the rivalry’s momentum, removing one of the league’s founding franchises from head-to-head competition with Punjab for two full seasons.
When Rajasthan returned in 2018, they were rebuilt around new overseas signings — Ben Stokes acquired at auction for an enormous fee — and emerging domestic talent, with Jofra Archer and Buttler representing a new overseas batting and bowling combination of genuine world class.
IPL 2018 — Return, Rebuild & Competitive Balance
In the 2018 season, RR and PBKS faced off twice in the league stage, with both teams ending up winning one game each. Rajasthan’s return was characterised by an early burst of competitive cricket built around their new overseas core — Buttler’s batting in particular reaching extraordinary heights across the 2018 season — while Punjab deployed Ashwin’s off-spin captaincy and a pace attack built around Mohammed Shami and Sandeep Sharma. The split results maintained the rivalry’s characteristic parity.
IPL 2019 — Punjab’s Dominant Head-to-Head Season
In 2019, RR and PBKS faced each other twice in the league stage, with PBKS emerging victorious on both occasions — one of their stronger head-to-head seasons. KL Rahul’s emergence as Punjab’s most consistent batting performer across the 2019 season — combining elegant timing with controlled aggression that maximised his boundary-scoring opportunities — gave Punjab’s batting a foundation that Rajasthan’s bowling struggled to contain across both encounters. Rajasthan’s transitional squad, under Steve Smith’s captaincy and still finding its optimal combination, could not match Punjab’s firepower in either fixture.
Phase 4 — The Greatest Chase in IPL History (2020): Tewatia’s Immortal Over
IPL 2020 — The Match of the Rivalry’s Entire History
The September 27, 2020 encounter at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium produced what remains the definitive moment in the entire Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings timeline — a match that will be discussed for as long as IPL cricket exists.
In Match 9 of IPL 2020, Rajasthan Royals recorded the highest run chase in IPL history to beat Kings XI Punjab by four wickets in a high-scoring encounter at the Sharjah cricket ground. Put into bat, Mayank Agarwal smashed a 50-ball 106, while skipper KL Rahul cracked a 54-ball 69 as the duo stitched a 183-run opening stand off 99 balls to power Punjab to an imposing 223 for 2.
Punjab’s innings had been a batting exhibition of the highest order. Agarwal’s century — 106 off 50 balls featuring nine fours and seven sixes — arrived with the momentum of an opener who had been waiting for a pitch and opponent that would give him license to attack without restriction. Sharjah’s short boundaries, combined with Punjab’s powerplay dominance, created a score that appeared genuinely unchaseable.
As it unfolded, it felt like a chase that defied logic in every way possible. With 51 required from the final three overs and Tewatia having crawled to 8 off 19 balls — an opening spell that suggested a batsman completely out of form and unlikely to contribute further — Rajasthan appeared finished.
But the six-hitting ability that he possesses came into view just when the Royals seemed out of it. Tewatia smacked Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in a match-turning, match-defining 18th over, and an improbable 51 off 18 balls turned into a far more straightforward 21 off 12.
Five consecutive sixes in a single over against an international West Indian pace bowler — in a pressure situation where Rajasthan required 51 from three overs — represents one of the most extraordinary individual achievements in IPL batting history. The Royals hit 18 sixes compared to Kings XI’s 11. Sanju Samson hit seven of those sixes while scoring a second successive half-century for the first time in his IPL career. His 42-ball 85 was more reward for the intense training he did during cricket’s Covid-19 period. Samson’s 85 had kept Rajasthan mathematically alive; Tewatia’s over had turned mathematics into magic.
In 2020, RR turned the tables by winning both clashes against Punjab. A highlight was Mayank Agarwal’s brilliant 50-ball 106, though it came in a losing cause.
Phase 5 — Jaiswal’s Era Begins (2021–2023)
IPL 2021 — Punjab’s Super Over Victory
Punjab Kings have managed 13 victories, including a notable Super Over win that came in the 2021 season — one of the rarest outcomes in T20 cricket, adding another landmark result to a rivalry already rich with extraordinary finishes. A tied match resolved by Super Over in this fixture represented the natural extension of a contest that had consistently refused to produce straightforward results.
IPL 2022 — Rajasthan’s Final Run, One Meeting
IPL 2022: RR qualified for the final, and the teams met once in the league stage with Rajasthan winning, their squad performing at peak cohesion during a season that saw them reach the IPL final — ultimately losing to Gujarat Titans in a contest that reflected the fine margins separating IPL contenders from champions. Buttler’s extraordinary batting through the 2022 season — including his record-breaking 124 against SRH — gave Rajasthan a batting foundation that Punjab’s bowling could not contain in their single meeting.
IPL 2023 — Split Results, Both Teams Finding Form
Both sides won a game each against each other in the league stage of IPL 2023, maintaining the rivalry’s characteristic symmetry. Yashasvi Jaiswal’s growing authority at the top of the Rajasthan order — his stroke play increasingly reminiscent of Sehwag’s ability to devastate bowling attacks in the powerplay — gave Rajasthan a different kind of opening threat from the Buttler era, one built on domestic talent rather than overseas star quality.
Phase 6 — The Mullanpur Era & High-Scoring Modern Cricket (2024–2026)
IPL 2024 — Two Contrasting Contests
The 2024 season produced two meetings of very different character between these sides. In the first, Rajasthan won by 3 wickets at Mohali in a competitive contest, with their batting chase management — built around Samson’s touch and Parag’s increasing confidence in high-pressure situations — overcoming Punjab’s bowling attack on a home surface.
The second meeting reversed the result, with Punjab winning by 5 wickets at Mohali in a match where Sam Curran’s all-round contribution — 63 off 41 balls after restricting RR’s top order with his pace variations — embodied the all-round quality Punjab have always sought but struggled to find across multiple seasons. PBKS captain Sam Curran, Harshal Patel, and Rahul Chahar returned with two wickets each in their bowling innings, before Curran’s batting rescued their chase from 22 for 2 with an innings of genuine class.
IPL 2025 — Jofra Archer’s Dominant Return, Then Punjab’s Revenge
Match 18 of IPL 2025, played at the PCA New Stadium in Mullanpur on April 5, produced one of the most complete team performances from Rajasthan in this fixture’s history.
Jofra Archer won his first Man of the Match award in IPL 2025 for his match-winning three-wicket haul against the Punjab Kings. The express pacer sent Priyansh Arya and Shreyas Iyer back to the dressing room in the first over itself, thereby turning the game in RR’s favor. Arshdeep Singh was his third victim, as Archer finished with figures of 3/25 in four overs.
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s first half-century of IPL 2025, and an unbeaten 25-ball 43 from Riyan Parag provided the sparks at the start and finish for Rajasthan Royals to become the first team to post a 200-plus IPL total in Mullanpur. Rajasthan Royals scored 205/4 in 20 overs with Yashasvi Jaiswal making 67 off 45 balls. Punjab Kings were restricted to 155/9 — Jofra Archer taking 3/25 — as RR won by 50 runs.
The reverse fixture at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on May 18 produced a dramatically different result — Punjab’s revenge. Punjab Kings handed Rajasthan Royals their 10th defeat of IPL 2025 by beating them by 10 runs at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Harpreet Brar stole the show by taking three wickets after coming in as an Impact Player for the visiting team. The spin bowler dismissed the dangerous Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Riyan Parag to derail RR’s innings. Earlier in the day, half-centuries from Nehal Wadhera and Shashank Singh guided the Kings to 219/5.
Shashank Singh remained unbeaten on 59 runs off 30 balls, a knock laced with five boundaries and three maximums. Harpreet Brar’s three-wicket impact substitute spell — dismissing three of Rajasthan’s most dangerous batsmen in quick succession — exemplified precisely the kind of tactical flexibility the Impact Player rule has introduced to IPL cricket, allowing a captain to introduce a specialist bowling option at the moment it is most needed.
IPL 2026 — RR’s Record Chase
RR also registered their third-highest chase in IPL during the 2026 season when they scored 228/4 to chase down a total of 222/4 with four balls to spare. The chase confirmed Rajasthan’s continued batting depth and tactical confidence in high-scoring encounters — a quality that has defined their best performances against Punjab across all 18 seasons of the rivalry.
Complete Head-to-Head Records Table
| Category | Record |
| Total Matches Played | 31 |
| Rajasthan Royals Wins | 18 |
| Punjab Kings Wins | 13 |
| No Results / Ties | 0 |
| RR Highest Score vs PBKS | 226/6 (Sharjah, September 2020) |
| PBKS Highest Score vs RR | 223/2 (Sharjah, September 2020 — same match) |
| RR Lowest Score vs PBKS | 112 |
| PBKS Lowest Score vs RR | 124 |
| Biggest RR Win (runs) | 78 runs (Durban, IPL 2009) |
| Biggest RR Win (wickets) | 9 wickets (Jaipur, IPL 2010) |
| Best Bowling (RR) | Kevon Cooper 4/26 (Jaipur, IPL 2012) |
| Super Over Results | Punjab Kings 1–0 (IPL 2021) |
| Leading Run-Scorer | Sanju Samson (RR) — 632 runs |
Season-Wise Results Summary Table
| Season | Match 1 | Match 2 | Net Result |
| 2008 | RR won (Jaipur) | PBKS won (Mohali) | Split |
| 2009 | Split results — RR by 78 runs, PBKS won | Split | |
| 2010 | RR won (9 wkts) | RR won | RR 2-0 |
| 2011 | One match only — result split | 0-0 | |
| 2012 | RR won both | RR 2-0 | |
| 2013 | Split | Split | |
| 2014 | PBKS won both | PBKS 2-0 | |
| 2015 | Split | Split | |
| 2016–17 | RR suspended — no matches | — | |
| 2018 | Split | Split | |
| 2019 | PBKS won both | PBKS 2-0 | |
| 2020 | RR won both (incl. record chase) | RR 2-0 | |
| 2021 | PBKS won (Super Over) | PBKS 1-0 | |
| 2022 | RR won | RR 1-0 | |
| 2023 | Split | Split | |
| 2024 | Split (RR won Mohali 1, PBKS won Mohali 2) | Split | |
| 2025 | RR won (50 runs) | PBKS won (10 runs) | Split |
| 2026 | RR won (record chase 228/4) | RR 1-0 |
Iconic Match Scorecards — Full Analysis
Match 1 — The Greatest Chase in IPL History (September 27, 2020, Sharjah)
| Match Information | Details |
| Match | IPL 2020, Match 9 |
| Format | IPL T20 |
| Venue | Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah, UAE |
| Date | September 27, 2020 |
| Toss | RR won, elected to field |
| Result | RR won by 4 wickets |
| Player of the Match | Sanju Samson (85 off 42 balls) |
Kings XI Punjab Batting
| Batsman | Dismissal | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | Strike Rate |
| KL Rahul (c) | — | 69 | 54 | — | — | 127.77 |
| Mayank Agarwal | — | 106 | 50 | 9 | 7 | 212.00 |
| Glenn Maxwell | not out | 13 | — | — | — | — |
| Nicholas Pooran | not out | 25 | — | — | — | — |
Extras: 9 | Total: 223/2 (20 overs)
Agarwal and his captain KL Rahul blasted 183 runs in a little over 16 overs for the first wicket — the highest opening partnership in this fixture’s entire history. Agarwal’s century was a masterclass in powerplay aggression — his first 50 arriving in just 25 balls through a combination of clean driving through the off-side and audacious pulling over midwicket. Rahul’s 69 provided the steady counterpart, rotating strike intelligently and choosing his moments to attack with the selectivity of a batsman who understood his team’s total was building toward unchaseable territory.
RR Bowling vs KXIP
| Bowler | Overs | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
| Mohammed Shami | 4 | 53 | 3 | 13.25 |
| Jofra Archer | 4 | — | — | — |
| Rahul Tewatia | 2 | — | 0 | — |
| Shreyas Gopal | 4 | — | — | — |
Rajasthan Royals Batting — The Record Chase
| Batsman | Dismissal | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | Strike Rate |
| Jos Buttler | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Steve Smith (c) | — | 50 | 27 | 7 | 2 | 185.19 |
| Sanju Samson | b Shami | 85 | 42 | 4 | 7 | 202.38 |
| Rahul Tewatia | c Agarwal b Shami | 53 | 31 | 1 | 5 | 170.97 |
| Robin Uthappa | b Shami | 9 | 4 | — | — | — |
| Jofra Archer | not out | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tom Curran | not out | — | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
Total: 226/6 (19.4 overs) | Target: 224 | Won by 4 wickets
Samson put on 81 for the second wicket with Steven Smith in just 40 balls, putting the Royals well in touch with their asking rate. They then promoted Rahul Tewatia — their only left-hander — to No. 4, and the move was beginning to look like one of the most ill-judged tactical interventions in IPL history when he struggled to hit the ball off the square and crawled to 8 off 19 balls.
The five sixes Tewatia hit off Cottrell in over 17 — delivered consecutively, each clearing the boundary with escalating certainty as the over progressed — represent the single most remarkable individual over of hitting in this fixture’s history, and arguably one of the most dramatic individual over outcomes in IPL history broadly. Ball 1: six over midwicket. Ball 2: six over long-on. Ball 3: six over square leg. Ball 4: six over wide long-on. Ball 5: six over midwicket. Five consecutive maximums against an international pace bowler, in a high-pressure situation where a miss or mistiming would have effectively ended the chase. Tewatia made 8 from his first 18 balls, and then 45 from his last 13 balls, including 5 sixes in an over from Sheldon Cottrell.
Match 2 — RR’s 50-Run Demolition (April 5, 2025, Mullanpur)
| Match Information | Details |
| Match | IPL 2025, Match 18 |
| Format | IPL T20 |
| Venue | PCA New Stadium, Mullanpur, Chandigarh |
| Date | April 5, 2025 |
| Toss | — |
| Result | RR won by 50 runs |
| Player of the Match | Jofra Archer (3/25) |
RR Batting
| Batsman | Dismissal | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | SR |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | — | 67 | 45 | 3 | 5 | 148.89 |
| Sanju Samson (c) | — | 38 | 26 | 6 | — | 146.15 |
| Riyan Parag | not out | 43 | 25 | 3 | 3 | 172.00 |
| Shimron Hetmyer | — | 20 | 12 | — | — | — |
| Dhruv Jurel | not out | 13 | 5 | — | — | — |
Total: 205/4 (20 overs)
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s first half-century of IPL 2025, and an unbeaten 25-ball 43 from Riyan Parag provided the sparks at the start and finish for Rajasthan Royals to become the first team to post a 200-plus IPL total in Mullanpur. There were ten sixes in all, with Jaiswal hitting five of them and Parag three.
PBKS Bowling
| Bowler | Overs | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
| Lockie Ferguson | 4 | 37 | 2 | 9.25 |
| Arshdeep Singh | 4 | 35 | 1 | 8.75 |
| Marco Jansen | 4 | — | 1 | — |
PBKS Batting — Chase
| Batsman | Dismissal | Runs | Balls | SR |
| Priyansh Arya | b Archer | — | 1 | — |
| Shreyas Iyer (c) | b Archer | — | 1 | — |
| Glenn Maxwell | — | 30 | 21 | 142.86 |
| Nehal Wadhera | — | 62 | 41 | 151.22 |
| Shashank Singh | — | 10 | 13 | — |
Total: 155/9 (20 overs)
Jofra Archer won his first Man of the Match award in IPL 2025 for his match-winning three-wicket haul against the Punjab Kings. The express pacer sent Priyansh Arya and Shreyas Iyer back to the dressing room in the first over itself, thereby turning the game in RR’s favor. Archer’s first-over double strike — the first ball of a T20 chase eliminating two of Punjab’s most dangerous batsmen before a single run had been scored — placed an immediate psychological weight on every subsequent batsman who walked to the crease. Maxwell’s 30 and Wadhera’s 62 showed fighting quality, but the deficit created by that first over proved insurmountable against Rajasthan’s disciplined bowling through the middle phases.
Match 3 — Punjab’s Revenge at Jaipur (May 18, 2025)
| Match Information | Details |
| Match | IPL 2025, Match 59 |
| Format | IPL T20 |
| Venue | Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur |
| Date | May 18, 2025 |
| Result | PBKS won by 10 runs |
| Player of the Match | Harpreet Brar (3/22 as impact sub) |
PBKS Batting
| Batsman | Runs | Balls | Key Note |
| Nehal Wadhera | — | — | Half-century anchor |
| Shashank Singh | 59* | 30 | Unbeaten 5 fours, 3 sixes |
| Azmatullah Omarzai | 21 | 9 | Explosive late cameo |
Total: 219/5 (20 overs)
RR Batting — Chase
| Batsman | Runs | Balls | Key Note |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | — | — | Dismissed by Brar (impact sub) |
| Vaibhav Suryavanshi | — | — | Dismissed by Brar (impact sub) |
| Riyan Parag | — | — | Dismissed by Brar (impact sub) |
| Dhruv Jurel | — | — | Half-century but insufficient |
Total: 209/— (20 overs) | Lost by 10 runs
Harpreet Brar stole the show by taking three wickets after coming in as an Impact Player for the visiting team. The spin bowler dismissed the dangerous Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Riyan Parag to derail RR’s innings. Brar’s 3/22 as an impact substitute — arriving in the match precisely at the moment where his left-arm spin could maximise its effectiveness against RR’s right-handed middle order — exemplified the tactical sophistication that the IPL’s Impact Player rule has introduced to T20 cricket’s strategic landscape.
Top Run-Scorers in RR vs PBKS Matches
| Player | Team | Runs | Notable Score |
| Sanju Samson | RR | 632 | 85 off 42 (2020 Sharjah) |
| Shane Watson | RR | 450+ | 76* off 49 (2008, inaugural match) |
| KL Rahul | PBKS | 400+ | 69 off 54 (2020 Sharjah) |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | RR | 350+ | 67 off 45 (2025 Mullanpur) |
| Mayank Agarwal | PBKS | 300+ | 106 off 50 (2020 Sharjah) |
| Riyan Parag | RR | 300+ | 43* off 25 (2025 Mullanpur) |
| Shashank Singh | PBKS | 250+ | 59* off 30 (2025 Jaipur) |
| Nehal Wadhera | PBKS | 200+ | 62 off 41 (multiple occasions) |
Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson has scored the most runs (632) in the clashes between the two teams in the IPL — a remarkable tally for a franchise rivalry spanning only two matches per season across most years. Samson’s 632 runs represent a consistency of high-quality performance in this specific fixture that speaks to his particular comfort in attacking Punjab’s bowling combinations, especially against pace bowling through the leg-side where his characteristic pull and sweep shots generate maximum boundary value.
Top Wicket-Takers in RR vs PBKS Matches
| Player | Team | Wickets | Best Figures |
| Yuzvendra Chahal | RR | 20+ | Multiple 3-wicket hauls |
| Sandeep Sharma | PBKS | 18+ | Consistent across 10 seasons |
| Jofra Archer | RR | 12+ | 3/25 (2025 Mullanpur) |
| Arshdeep Singh | PBKS | 12+ | Multiple quality spells |
| Mohammed Shami | PBKS | 10+ | 3/53 (2020 Sharjah) |
| Kevon Cooper | RR | 8+ | 4/26 (2012 Jaipur) — best figures |
| Shane Warne | RR | 8+ | 3/19 (inaugural 2008 match) |
On the bowling front, Sandeep Sharma leads the wicket charts for Punjab Kings in their overall IPL campaign, while for Rajasthan Royals, Yuzvendra Chahal has been their most successful bowler throughout the tournament’s history. Chahal’s leg-spin variations — his googly particularly effective against Punjab’s right-handed batsmen who struggle to pick the wrong’un from a wrist-spinner at high pace — have produced match-defining spells across multiple seasons, often turning apparently comfortable Punjab totals into chaseable targets.
Venue-Wise Records
| Venue | Matches | RR Wins | PBKS Wins |
| Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur | 7+ | 5 | 2 |
| Mohali / PCA Stadium | 7+ | 3 | 4 |
| Sharjah Cricket Stadium (2020) | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| PCA New Stadium, Mullanpur | 2+ | 1 | 1 |
| South Africa venues (2009) | 2 | 1 | 1 |
In the Royals’ seven matches against Punjab Kings at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, the hosts have won five, losing just two of them. Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium pitch — known for offering assistance to wrist-spinners while maintaining sufficient pace for clean hitting — suits Rajasthan’s bowling attack combination of Chahal’s leg-spin and quality pace bowling through Archer and Boult more naturally than Punjab’s batting plans that favour flat pitches with consistent pace and bounce.
Punjab’s Mohali record reflects the inverse — their home ground’s pace-friendly surface and shorter square boundaries maximise the effectiveness of their aggressive top-order batting, particularly the power-hitting of Agarwal, Maxwell, and Shashank Singh that has defined their batting identity through the 2020s.
Turning Points That Defined the Rivalry
April 21, 2008 — Watson and Warne Establish the Template: The inaugural encounter set Rajasthan’s philosophical approach to this fixture — bowling intelligence through Warne and all-round batting power through Watson creating a blueprint that outlasted both players’ own time at the franchise.
IPL 2012 — Cooper’s 4/26: Kevon Cooper’s best-ever bowling figures in this fixture produced a comprehensive Rajasthan victory that demonstrated their depth beyond headline names — a recurring theme in RR’s best performances against Punjab across the rivalry’s entire history.
IPL 2014 — Punjab’s Double: PBKS’s sweep of both meetings in 2014 — their most successful individual head-to-head season — came in the same year they reached the IPL final, representing the peak of their franchise power in the rivalry and confirming that when Punjab’s squad operates cohesively, they are more than capable of overcoming Rajasthan’s tactical advantages.
September 27, 2020 — The Tewatia Over: In Sharjah 2020, Punjab set a mammoth target of 224. Rajasthan Royals chased it down with the help of Rahul Tewatia’s unbelievable hitting — smashing five sixes in an over. This single over redefined what a T20 chase could look like — proving that no target is safe while wickets remain in hand and the correct batsman is at the crease. It is the definitive moment in the rivalry’s entire history.
IPL 2025 — Jofra Archer’s First-Over Double Strike: Archer removing Priyansh Arya and Shreyas Iyer with the first two balls of Punjab’s chase in Mullanpur illustrated how a single over of elite pace bowling can compress a target that seemed achievable into one that appears impossible before the batting team has settled.
IPL 2025 — Harpreet Brar’s Impact Sub Revenge: Punjab’s tactical deployment of Brar as an impact substitute at the precise moment his left-arm spin could most effectively target Rajasthan’s right-handed middle order demonstrated the evolving sophistication of IPL captaincy decision-making in the Impact Player era.
Star Players Who Shaped Each Era
Shane Warne (RR, 2008–2011): The greatest captain in this fixture’s history — his three-wicket debut against Punjab in 2008 set the tone for a rivalry Rajasthan would lead for the following decade, and his tactical innovations shaped how T20 bowling strategy was conceived across the IPL’s formative years.
Shane Watson (RR, 2008–2015): The rivalry’s most consistent all-round performer of its first decade. Shane Watson being adjudged the Player of the Match for scoring an unbeaten 76 off just 49 balls, which included five fours and five sixes in the inaugural match established a relationship between Watson and this fixture that lasted throughout his Rajasthan career — 2,372 runs and 61 wickets for the franchise across all opponents, with Punjab seeing some of his most imposing performances.
Sanju Samson (RR, 2013–present): Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson has scored the most runs (632) in the clashes between the two teams in the IPL — a record that encapsulates the central importance he has held to Rajasthan’s batting plans against Punjab across more than a decade of competition.
Rahul Tewatia (RR, 2020): His five sixes off Cottrell in the 18th over of the 2020 Sharjah chase constitute the single most dramatic individual contribution to this fixture’s history — an over that turned a near-certain defeat into one of IPL’s most celebrated victories.
KL Rahul (PBKS, 2018–2022): Punjab’s most technically accomplished batsman against Rajasthan, combining elegance with power in a way that made him consistently difficult to bowl to across all conditions.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (RR, 2020–present): The 2025 Mullanpur innings — 67 off 45 — marked Jaiswal’s authority in this fixture as the new face of Rajasthan’s batting ambition: a left-hander of extraordinary natural talent whose ability to target pace and spin bowling with equal comfort makes him the central figure in Rajasthan’s plans for all future encounters.
Jofra Archer (RR, 2025–present): His 3/25 in the Mullanpur opener — including a first-over double strike that effectively decided the match before Rajasthan’s openers had faced a single ball — confirmed his return to IPL cricket as an event of genuine consequence for this fixture.
Match Summary & Conclusion
The Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings timeline is one of the IPL’s most textured bilateral rivalries — not defined by the explosive headline records that characterise some other fixtures, but by its consistency of entertainment, its capacity for extraordinary individual moments, and its reflection of two contrasting franchise philosophies pursuing the same ultimate goal from very different directions.
Since the inaugural season in 2008, these two franchises have produced electrifying battles, ranging from nail-biting last-ball thrillers to record-breaking batting showcases. Over the years, the Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings timeline has reflected the unpredictability of IPL, showcasing moments of brilliance from established stars and rising talents alike. Rajasthan’s 18–13 overall lead reflects their superior franchise consistency — winning an IPL title in 2008, reaching a final in 2022, and producing domestic talent of Jaiswal and Parag’s calibre alongside overseas match-winners of Archer and Buttler’s quality. Punjab’s 13 victories speak to their potential — a franchise whose batting firepower has regularly produced extraordinary individual innings in this fixture, from Agarwal’s 106 to KL Rahul’s consistent authority, that simply lacked the bowling and lower-order depth to convert dominance in single encounters into sustained tournament success.
The rivalry enters its next chapter with Punjab’s Shreyas Iyer era showing renewed tactical ambition and Rajasthan’s young core of Jaiswal, Parag, Suryavanshi and Jurel suggesting a batting lineup that will only grow in authority. Every meeting between these sides carries the implicit promise of the spectacular — a promise the Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings fixture has delivered with remarkable regularity across 18 extraordinary seasons of IPL cricket.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who leads the Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings IPL head-to-head record? In the RR vs PBKS head-to-head, the Royals have won 18 while the Kings triumphed 13 times across 31 matches since 2008.
What is the most famous match between Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings? In Match 9 of IPL 2020 at Sharjah, Rajasthan Royals recorded the highest run chase in IPL history at the time to beat Kings XI Punjab by four wickets. Rahul Tewatia smashed five sixes in the 18th over off Sheldon Cottrell to turn the match on its head, scoring 53 in 31 balls after struggling to 8 off 19 earlier.
Which player has scored the most runs in RR vs PBKS matches? Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson has scored the most runs — 632 — in the clashes between the two teams in the IPL.
What are the best bowling figures in RR vs PBKS matches? Kevon Cooper picked up four wickets for 26 runs off his four overs in the Royals’ 31-run win against the Kings at Jaipur during IPL 2012, recording the best bowling figures by a Royals player in the fixture’s history. Shane Warne’s 3/19 in the inaugural 2008 encounter remains the rivalry’s most historically significant single bowling performance
What happened in the RR vs PBKS IPL 2025 matches? In Match 18, Rajasthan Royals beat Punjab Kings by 50 runs — Yashasvi Jaiswal scoring 67 off 45 balls and Jofra Archer taking 3/25. In the reverse fixture at Jaipur in Match 59, Punjab Kings beat Rajasthan Royals by 10 runs, with Harpreet Brar winning the Man of the Match award for his 3/22 as an impact substitute.
Have Punjab Kings ever won the IPL title? No. Punjab Kings — formerly Kings XI Punjab — remain without an IPL title after 18 seasons of competition. Their closest approach was in 2014 when they reached the final before losing to Kolkata Knight Riders. Rajasthan Royals, by contrast, won the inaugural IPL title in 2008 under Shane Warne’s captaincy.
Where can fans in India watch RR vs PBKS IPL matches? All Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings IPL matches are broadcast on the Star Sports network in India and streamed live on JioHotstar, which also offers free mobile streaming. Both English and Hindi commentary options are available across platforms.
