Rajasthan Royals (RR) will take on the defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL 2023 at the Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium in Jaipur on Friday. RR will be looking to get back to winning ways after a final-over defeat to MI at the Wankhede Stadium in their last game. The Sanju Samson-led side has won five and lost four out of their nine games so far.
RR dominated their first game of the season against SRH but lost their second game to PBKS by 5 runs. The Royals bounced back to beat DC by 57 runs in Guwahati. Then RR beat the CSK by 3 runs in a thrilling game in Chennai. RR made it three wins in a row as they beat the reigning champions Gujarat Titans by 3 wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in the reverse fixture. RR lost narrowly to LSG in their first game in Jaipur this season as they failed to chase down a target of 155. RR then lost to RCB by 7 runs as they could not chase down a target of 190 in Bangalore. RR then beat CSK in Jaipur. But last time out, RR lost to MI by 6 wickets as the bowlers could not defend 212 runs and the MI batters took their team home.
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Yashasvi Jaiswal lit up the Wankhede Stadium with a whirlwind 124 off 62 balls to power RR to a daunting 212/7. However, Suryakumar's 55 off 29 coupled with Cameron Green's brisk 44(26) and Tim David's finishing heroics (45* off 14) helped MI chase down the target with three balls to spare. Jos Buttler has scored 289 runs so far in nine innings. Hetmyer has been in good form this season having scored 205 runs but has failed to contribute in the last few games. Jaiswal is the current top run-getter for the team with 428 runs and skipper Samson has chipped in with 212 runs so far.
{{/usCountry}}Yashasvi Jaiswal lit up the Wankhede Stadium with a whirlwind 124 off 62 balls to power RR to a daunting 212/7. However, Suryakumar's 55 off 29 coupled with Cameron Green's brisk 44(26) and Tim David's finishing heroics (45* off 14) helped MI chase down the target with three balls to spare. Jos Buttler has scored 289 runs so far in nine innings. Hetmyer has been in good form this season having scored 205 runs but has failed to contribute in the last few games. Jaiswal is the current top run-getter for the team with 428 runs and skipper Samson has chipped in with 212 runs so far.
{{/usCountry}}Dhruv Jurel and Ashwin have also contributed well to the team's batting performances lower down the order. Devdutt Padikkal has also scored 194 runs this season. Riyan Parag has been in poor form this season and as a result, has been in and out of the team.
As for the bowlers. Chahal has scalped twelve wickets at an economy of eight, Ashwin has picked up thirteen wickets at an economy of seven and Boult has picked up ten wickets. Sandeep Sharma has picked up eight wickets and Jason Holder has also chipped in with a few important scalps. Zampa also has five wickets this season. Holder conceded more than 50 runs in the last game and could be replaced in the team with Obed McCoy.
Riyan Parag, M Ashwin or Kuldeep Sen might be utilised as the Impact player depending on whether RR bat or field first.
RR's predicted XI vs GT:
Openers: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal
Top and middle order: Dhruv Jurel, Sanju Samson (c) (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal
All-rounders: Ravichandran Ashwin
Bowlers: Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma, Obed McCoy
Impact Player: RR will rely on Riyan Parag, M Ashwin or Kuldeep Sen for their Impact Player options