Jaipur: Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson has won the toss and elected to bowl first against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in match 19 of IPL 2024 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Saturday evening.
RR, ranked second in the points table, is aiming to register the fourth straight win of their IPL 2024 campaign, while RCB has only one win in four matches so far and is in eighth place. RR is wearing a dark pink jersey, to mark a women’s empowerment in rural Rajasthan initiative named ‘Pink Promise’.
After winning the toss, Samson said his playing eleven is unchanged, with fast-bowler Sandeep Sharma continuing to be unavailable. “Something to do with the opposition, it’s a fresh wicket, expecting some help for the seamers and expecting some dew as well. It’s a long season, people are taking responsibility and finishing games,” he said.
RCB skipper Faf du Plessis said the visitors’ have handed a debut cap to Saurabh Chauhan, a left-hand batter from Ahmedabad who doubles up as an occasional wicketkeeper and plays domestic cricket for Gujarat.
“We were thinking of the same (to bowl first). It looks like a good wicket, think it will remain the same in both innings. For me, it’s just a case of trusting our guys. We have been inconsistent; we get an opportunity to do things better. We are trying to find the roles for the players, we are looking for that.”
“That hasn’t worked as yet. We haven’t delivered. Not many people know him (Saurabh Chauhan), he has some serious amount of skill and batting power, looks like a nice and calm guy,” he said.
Playing XIs: