Riyan Parag won the toss on an afternoon touching 40 °C and immediately put Rajasthan Royals in to bat. “We’d have done the same,” admitted Ajinkya Rahane at the toss, so both captains were thinking alike – recent chases by either side have not inspired confidence.
Royals have reversed last week’s experiment. Shimron Hetmyer, rested for the previous outing, comes straight back in, and Lhuan-dre Pretorius is the one to sit out. Brijesh Sharma also returns after Tushar Deshpande’s costly four overs in Ahmedabad; Parag felt the extra pace option was worth a look.
Knight Riders, still without a victory after six attempts, keep faith with the same XI. “We’re close, we know that,” Rahane said during the week, “so the best thing is to back the players already in the middle.”
The afternoon will again shine a light on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, a year to the day since he launched his IPL career with a first-ball six off Shardul Thakur. Two matches later he plundered a 35-ball hundred against Delhi Capitals. KKR quick Vaibhav Arora was asked about a plan: “Line and length never go out of fashion,” he replied, “but you can’t miss by an inch to him.”
Parag believes the Royals’ top order can set the tone: “If we’re solid up front the rest of the game looks after itself,” he said. Yet the onus is equally on Royals’ bowlers, who conceded 221 while chasing last time out.
Teams
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (capt), Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Ravi Bishnoi, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma. Bench: Sandeep Sharma, Shubham Dubey, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Yash Punja.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Tim Seifert (wk), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Sunil Narine, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora. Bench: Manish Pandey, Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Tejasvi Singh, Navdeep Saini.
With the surface expected to slow as the day wears on, early runs may well be decisive. For KKR, a first win would reboot the campaign; for Royals, consolidating a top-four place is the immediate aim.
