The two relegated team who made a comeback this season, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, clash against each other for the first time in the IPL 2018.
The two sides have a number of players who represented the Rising Pune Supergiant, as CSK’s newly adopted home is hosting the game in Pune.
Also, both teams are coming off losses and would be desperate to clinch a couple of points on offer. Here’s a look at the Predicted XI of the Rajasthan Royals.
Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane now has four outings behind him without a substantial score.
Rajasthan’s captain gave away his wicket just when he was about to get into his overdrive mode in the past games.
Rahane’s captaincy was brought under scrutiny with constant changes in the field with every ball.
Jos Buttler
With D’Arcy Short looking out of sorts, Royals might look at other options in Heinrich Klaasen useful down the order.
Also, Buttler is too good a player to play 18 balls in the innings, coming in at number five. Buttler was devastating last year batting at the top order for Mumbai Indians. It is the losses which bring changes in the lineups.
Sanju Samson
Sanju Samson missed out on the KKR challenge in a home game, after playing brilliantly at Chinnaswamy for his 92. Samson has shown signs that he indeed is ready for the national side.
Ben Stokes
Stokes, along with Short, struggled to cope up with the low bounce conditions in Jaipur. Perhaps, he would enjoy the conditions familiar at Pune which is his former home ground when he represented a Rising Pune Supergiant.
Rahul Tripathi
From one RPS to another, Rahul Tripathi will also come back to the home ground at his successful franchise last year, where he rose to fame.
This time around, Tripathi has to bat down the order, as opposed the role of the opener last year.
However, this year, Tripathi looked equally impressive with his hitting skills, coming in at the death, with his cameos.
Heinrich Klaasen
The South African who was not even on the player’s list in the auctions this year, somehow made an appearance in the IPL after impressing one and all in the recent India-South Africa ODI-T20I series.
Klaasen comes in place of Short in XI, to change the monotonous look of the side.
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Krishnappa Gowtham
Photo by: Deepak Malik / IPL/ SPORTZPICS
Krishnappa Gowtham looks a half and half player for Rajasthan who can hit some blows down the order and give a few breakthroughs with the ball. However, he hasn’t threatened with the new ball so far.
Shreyas Gopal
Shreyas Gopal, another IPL performer this season from Karnataka, has been the pick of the bowlers so far for the Rajasthan Royals. Gopal has clinched crucial wickets of Kohli and AB in the match in which Rajasthan won in Bengaluru.
Dhawal Kulkarni
Dhawal Kulkarni’s line and length got distorted due to the frequent changes in the field by Rahane, which confused the bowler regarding his areas. Kulkarni would have a thing or two to prove in the next match against CSK.
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Ben Laughlin
Laughlin turned out to be expensive in his outing against the Knight Riders. Just due to the superiority of the KKR batting, Royals bowling bland as a unit, even after clinching a couple of early wickets.
Jaydev Unadkat
The bowling woes for Jaydev Unadkat continued in the match against Knight Riders, as he went for an economy of 11 and a half. His form has been terrible since he got introduced to the Indian side against South Africa. The Saurashtra pacers’ heavy price tag isn’t helping this season.