Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bowl first at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on 23 April 2023. Virat Kohli will be leading the side in place of injured Faf Du Plessis who will only bat as the Impact Substitute. Star Australian Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood was seen missing from the playing 11 of the RCB team.
Why is Josh Hazlewood not playing today?
Josh Hazlewood, a crucial bowling asset for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), is now dealing with an Achilles ailment and is still recovering. He was seen bowling at the RCB nets and will return to the side in couple of games time.
What did the captains say at the toss?
Virat Kohli: 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. 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. One change for us, Wayne Parnell is out and he will be replaced by David Willey. Faf continues to play as an impact sub.
Sanju Samson: We’ll bowl first. 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.
Teams
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jason Holder, Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal
RR subs: Donavon Ferreira, M Ashwin, Akash Vasisht, KM Asif and Abdul Basith.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): 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
RCB Subs: Harshal Patel, Finn Allen, Akash Deep, Karn Sharma, Anuj Rawat.
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