Bengaluru, April 23: Rajasthan Royals (RR) won the toss and opted to bowl first against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in an IPL 2023 match at M.A Chinnaswamy Stadium, here on Sunday.
While RR stuck to the same playing XI, RCB made one change as David Willey came in for Wayne Parnell.
“Looking at the conditions, our side and their side. So we’d prefer bowling. The dressing room is simple, honest and we need to respect the way we are playing. We are starting with the same XI, might add someone later on,” RR skipper Sanju Samson said at the toss.
On the other hand, RCB stand-in captain Virat Kohli said the regular skipper Faf du Plessis continues to play as an impact substitute.
“It was pretty easy to choose, we’d have batted first. This wicket looks dry and it will get drier and might break up first. I didn’t say that to Sanju, but I’m very happy to bat first. We both get to do what we wanted,” Kohli said.
On captaining the team, Virat said: “They informed me last time saying I might have to captain a couple of games, nothing I’m not used to doing. So I’m happy to step in, ready to continue from whatever Faf has been doing. The team has responded well, we are playing with a lot of energy and that showed in the last game. Faf continues to play as an impact sub.”
Playing XIs:
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jason Holder, Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal
Substitutes: Abdul Basith, Akash Vasisht, Donovan Ferreira, Murugan Ashwin, KM Asif
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli(c), Faf du Plessis, Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik(w), Suyash Prabhudessai, David Willey, Wanindu Hasaranga, Mohammed Siraj, Vijaykumar Vyshak
Substitutes: Harshal Patel, Finn Allen, Akash Deep, Karn Sharma, Anuj Rawat.
