Rajasthan Royals all-rounder, Jofra Archer, is yet to recover from the side strain which ruled him out of Pakistan Super League recently.
In addition, the 23-year-old exciting talent Archer was expected to be in his groove early for Rajasthan Royals in the ongoing Indian Premier League addition.
However, fitness concerns meant that he was not included in the playing XI.
It is yet to be known how many days will Archer spend on the bench before making his IPL debut?
Archer, who is currently serving the period to be eligible to play for England.
In in the IPL auction in January, Rajasthan Royals bought Archer for INR 7.20 Crore
He impressed one and many in the Big Bash League, the reason behind IPL franchises going behind him.
Later, he went onto play PSL for Quetta Gladiators but had to pull out of the tournament after two games due to a side strain.
He already had a later arrival in Rajasthan Royals’ camp due to the same reason. Unfortunately, he is highly-likely going to miss few games as well.
Archer has just played 20 first-class games till now. In the traditional domestic format, he has scored 833 runs and has bagged 89 wickets.
In 10 List A games, Archer has scored 130 runs and has scalped 16 wickets. He has also played 41 T20s in which he has scored 195 runs and has scalped 50 wickets.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals kicked off their IPL campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad in an away game at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
The unavailability of Archer meant that Ben Laughlin has been handed a chance.
Jos Buttler and D’Arcy Short were other two foreign players in Rajasthan Royals’ playing XI.
In addition, Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to field first.
They had Kane Williamson, Billy Stanlake, Shakib Al Hasan and Rashid Khan as four foreigners in their playing XI.
Have a look at the playing eleven of both teams:
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson(c), Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Billy Stanlake, Siddarth Kaul
Rajasthan Royals:
Ajinkya Rahane(c), D Arcy Short, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi, Jos Buttler(w), Krishnappa Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Ben Laughlin.