Rajasthan Royals kicked off the UAE leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 campaign on a winning note, beating Punjab Kings by a slender margin of two runs. Mustafizur Rahman and Kartik Tyagi’s death-overs heroics earned the Royals a narrow victory but awaiting them now is the big Delhi Capitals test.
The absence of Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer is a big blow to the Royals in the UAE leg of the campaign but they did well in the England trio’s absence against Punjab. There are, however, lessons to learn from victory but will the Sanju Samson-led franchise make any changes to their team against Delhi?
Starting from the opening spot, Evin Lewis and Yashasvi Jaiswal did very well opening the innings for the franchise, scoring 36 and 49 runs respectively. Despite the availability of Glenn Phillips, Rajasthan are expected to continue with the same opening combination.
Sanju Samson was lambasted by many over his inconsistency and the Royals skipper would be determined to return to form as the league phase of the campaign edges closer to its decisive stage.
The middle-order trio of Liam Livingstone, Mahipal Lomror, Riyan Parag is expected to be entrusted with the responsibility of adding steel to RR’s batting unit.
Lomror was exquisite against Punjab, scoring a 17-ball 43 while Livingstone also did well with a knock of 25 from 17 balls. The performances of Parag, however, haven’t been up to the mark and it won’t be long before the franchise looks to replace him in the coming games.
Rahul Tewatia is also yet to reproduce his IPL 2020 season heroics but he is indispensable to the squad with his all-rounder skills. The pace quartet of Chris Morris, Chetan Sakariya, Kartik Tyagi and Mustafizur Rahman is likely to stay put despite the availability of World No. 1 T20I bowler Tabraiz Shamsi.
The South African Shamsi was roped in for the UAE leg of the campaign but hasn’t yet gotten an outing. Mustafizur remains the only player in whose place Shamsi can be brought in but considering the Bangladesh pacer’s heroics in the previous match against PBKS, he is unlikely to be benched.
Rajasthan Royals likely playing XI: Evin Lewis, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c,wk), Liam Livingstone, Mahipal Lomror, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Chetan Sakariya, Kartik Tyagi, Mustafizur Rahman
