The all fired-up Lucknow Super Giants take on Rajasthan Royals as KL Rahul-led side won the toss and elected to field first in their IPL match on Sunday (April 10).
As far as playing XIs are concerned, KL Rahul dropped Lewis and Tye to bring in Stoinis and Chameera for Lucknow. Meanwhile, Sanju Samson brought in Kudeep Sen and Rassia van der Dussen for Navdeep Saini and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
"We're gonna look to bowl first. Even last game, I didn't have any other reason. Just that we want to know what to chase and maybe, dew might come on later. Every game starts fresh and I've not had a great game here. It always balances out. Just want to come out and do the job for the team. We're chasing, so we'll know what to do and I can pace my innings accordingly. We have a great team and that makes the team of a captain easy. When you have experienced players and about 9/10 of the players in the first XI are international players, it makes the captain's role easier. I'm enjoying the captaincy. Two changes - Lewis and Tye miss out, Stoinis and Chameera come in," Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul said before the match.
"We did the same thing last time (batting first), so just need to put runs on the board and defend it later. Nothing can be done about the toss, our team is well-balanced to deal with that factor. We have two changes - Kuldeep Sen in for Navdeep Saini, Rassie van der Dussen in for Yashasvi Jaiswal," RR captain Sanju Samson said.
KL Rahul's team lost its opening game narrowly to fellow first-timers Gujarat Titans, but have since recorded comprehensive wins over defending champions Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad and a very formidable Delhi Capitals outfit.
On the other hand, before the reverse against RCB, RR won two matches, beating Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians by 61 runs and 23 runs respectively. Arguably one of the best batters in the shortest format, Jos Buttler is going great guns, following up his blazing hundred with a 47-ball 70 against RCB.
Pitch report
"This wicket is a lot drier to the ones used here earlier in the tournament, it might spin a bit. It's a batting paradise and it's going to be a lot of hard work for the bowlers," former Australia star batter Matthew Hayden analyses the pitch.
Rajasthan Royals' playing XI:
Jos Buttler, Rassie van der Dussen, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Kuldeep Sen, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Lucknow Super Giants' playing XI:
KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock (w), Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, Krishnappa Gowtham, Dushmantha Chameera, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan.
