IPL 2023: Royal Challengers Bangalore opt to bat against Rajasthan Royals 

Jaipur: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have won the toss and have opted to bat against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their must-win match to secure a place for the playoffs of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. The match is being played at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.

RCB Faf du Plessis chose to bat first and made two changes. Wayne Dillon Parnell and Michael Bracewell will play instead of Josh Reginald Hazlewood and Pinnaduwage Wanindu Hasaranga respectively.

Likewise, Rajasthan Royals have made one change. They have roped in Adam Zampa in place of Trent Boult.

“We will have a bat first. The conditions might favor that, looks like a dry wicket. It is very clear from here on for us, that is not a bad thing sometimes. We need to execute better. 3-4 guys are putting their hand up every game, we need a bit more probably to cash in on some good positions. Wins are important, net run rate is not something we can bother about now. I think we crossed that bridge in the last game. Two changes – Parnell coming in for Hazlewood, Bracewell in for Hasaranga,” du Plessis said.

RR captain Sanju Samson said, “Would have batted first as well. The pressure is on, we are treating this as a semi-final. To be honest, we have had just one flat game against Gujarat, the rest of the games we have played competitive games. There are a few niggles that players carry through the tournament, but the support staff have done a good job managing that. One change for today, Zampa comes in for Boult.”

Teams:

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Joe Root, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Adam Zampa, Sandeep Sharma, KM Asif, Yuzvendra Chahal

Substitutes: Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Kuldip Yadav, Donavon Ferreira, Navdeep Saini

Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Anuj Rawat, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik(w), Michael Bracewell, Wayne Parnell, Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj

Substitutes: Vijaykumar Vyshak, Finn Allen, Shahbaz Ahmed, Himanshu Sharma, Suyash Prabhudessai

Also Read: IPL 2023: Selectors closely monitoring Yashasvi Jaiswal; he will soon play for India, says Ravi Shastri