India, April 5 -- Is this the year for Punjab Kings? They have a settled lineup, plenty of exciting young Indian talent, quality overseas options they can rely on, and a captain who knows his way around running a successful IPL team. Punjab have always carried the tag of the lovable loser, consistently finding themselves with some famous moments but never able to leverage that into a consistently challenging team. There is a different air around them this year as they comfortably won their first two matches: this is a team that intends to give winning a real shot.

Their next opponents as they look to keep this winning streak going will be the Rajasthan Royals, who didn't have the greatest of starts but were able to claw back to snatch th...