As the Pink city gears up for yet another season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the home team – Rajasthan Royals (RR) – will begin their campaign against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Sunday.
Fan favourite Sanju Samson will be back in the captain’s role, leading a power-packed unit that missed a playoff berth by a whisker last year. On the other hand, LSG’s skipper will return after an injury layoff as the franchise will make a fresh start to their quest for a maiden title. The contest will pit two equally rounded sides against each other. However, picking up a balanced line-up will be challenging for both.
Powell and Avesh Bolster RR
West Indies all-rounder Rovman Powell will bolster the RR batting down the order, sharing the responsibilities with the likes of Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag. Fast bowler Avesh Khan, who was traded from LSG before the player’s auction last year, will most likely be joining the RR bowling unit alongside Navdeep Saini and Sandeep Sharma.
The Royals are going to miss the services of pacer Prasidh Krishna who is unavailable due to injury. Also, Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa has pulled out of the tournament and has been replaced by Mumbai’s Tanush Kotian.
LSG debut for Padikkal?
If Avesh went to RR, Padikkal found a new home in LSG where he would be teaming up with his Karnataka mate KL Rahul. The opening batter and veteran South African keeper-batter Quinton de Kock would be raring to go all guns blazing against his previous franchise.
Since the BCCI has asked Rahul to play as a specialist batter for now, it would be Nicholas Pooran to don the wicketkeeping gloves in the campaign opener.
Lucknow’s bowling unit will be interesting to watch after the addition of young West Indies pacer Shamar Joseph. Also, some fresh faces in Arshin Kulkarni and Shivam Mavi will make the selection interesting. But in most likelihood, the management would like to keep the core group intact.
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Here are the predicted XIs
RR predicted XI vs LSG: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c, wk), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Dhruv Jurel, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Trent Boult.
LSG predicted XI vs RR: Quinton de Kock (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Deepak Hooda, KL Rahul (c), Nicholas Pooran (wk), Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Shamar Joseph, Yash Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi.
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