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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to field first against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Glenn Maxwell has not been included in the side as he is still unavailable because of Cricket Australia's (CA) policy. As per the policy, contracted players cannot participate in other domestic competitions if the national team is playing international matches (Pakistan vs Australia only T20I).
“Just the trend and with the dew effect. The pitch doesn't look very different, so we'll have to see what the dew does. The fact that pleases me is that we hung in the last game. It gives a lot of confidence to the group. Even though you aren't playing at your best, it is pleasing,” Du Plessis said after winning the toss.
RR XI: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal
RCB XI: Faf du Plessis(c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik(w), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj
On the other hand, Sanju Samson did not seem too disappointed with the toss as his side won the two games while chasing. He did not make any changes to the winning combination.
“Not too disappointed (at losing the toss). It looks like a completely different surface to the ones we played in the last few games. Our standards in our bowling and batting. We should all take care of our own roles and try to win the small moments,” Samson said after losing the toss.
“Assessing conditions and situations has been important. There has been a bit of dew around, so that has helped with my batting. My role is that of a finisher, at least that is what they have told me. Hasaranga is much slower through the air. He is a different kind of a bowler and spins the ball both ways. He is very accurate for a leg-spinner and I have enjoyed keeping to him. The challenge has been to find positions to get stumpings. We have to bring our A game against RR. We need to do the things that we do right consistently to win the game,” RCB wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik said before the game.
“As a team we have had very good preparations and also we have been talking about how clarity is important when we get on the field, that has helped me a lot. Looking to control, hit the good areas and continue the momentum from there. Boult has been very good for us, we have been discussing a lot about bowling and also Malinga, he has played a very good role in what we have been doing. Feeling at home, feeling nice, very good people around and enjoying every bit of it. I don't know what RCB is going to do but I know all of us will go in 100 percent prepared. It is a fresh start for us, game three and we are going to give it our all,” Royals’ in-form fast bowler Prasidh Krishna said.
