The Rajasthan Royals will face the Kings XI Punjab in the 38th game of the Indian Premier League to be played at Jaipur. If the off-field shenanigans were to be ignored – and that includes the temporary ban on booze and cheergirls in the city of Jaipur – the game could probably not match up to the lofty heights of the some of the other matches that have been played so far in the tournament. 
The Rajasthan side had last met Punjab in the early portion of the tournament, when both the teams had lost all their first three games. Since then, Rajasthan has won five games, whereas the Punjab team has won only two, thus making it supremely difficult for them to qualify for the semi-finals. In fact, Punjab could very well have been knocked out had they not chased down the 200 runs against the Knight Riders. 
Rajasthan has performed admirably well in their last couple of games, despite losing one of them to Chennai. In fact, the last match against the Chargers was won from the brink of defeat thanks to a superb spell of bowling by Shane Warne as he scalped four wickets. This meant that the side would feel rejuvenated going into this game and against an opposition which has struggled through the entire duration of the tournament, will look at making it count.
Of course, in a format like this, it is difficult to underestimate any opposition, and the Punjab team had showed in the previous game that they were able to chase down a total of 200 as well. This would give the visitors some hope as they take field against a much superior opposition.
To me, Warne’s Rajasthan has got the combination that they needed, with the re-entry of Shane Watson. And with that, they would be one of the favourites to get to the semi-finals, and to beat Punjab in this game; going into the match at 4/5 (888Sport) as compared to Extra Bet’s 6/5 for Punjab to win the game. My bet is on Warne leading them to their sixth win!