RR’s full-time captain Riyan Parag was not available for selection due to an injury. “He had some hamstring injury and he’ll be fine soon, I hope so. So, he’s not playing this game,” Jaiswal said at the toss.
“We’re going to bowl first and I feel like it’s a good wicket. Later on, there will be some dew, I hope. So, we are going to chase. (On being the captain) it means a lot to me and it’s proud always to represent the Rajasthan Royals franchise. (on Riyan Parag) He had some hamstring injury and he’ll be fine soon, I hope so. So, he’s not playing this game. We have three changes. Sandy, Sushant Mishra and Lhuan-dre Pretorious come in. (on the improvements needed) I think we all are speaking to everyone and I think the mindset and attitude what we will bring out into the ground and just enjoy the game. (on their winless record in Jaipur) I think I’ll just smile and enjoy the game and play. That said, I think it’s a wonderful, wonderful day and we have the opportunity to play good cricket. So we are going to enjoy the game. (On Jadeja) Nothing much at the moment. Jadu bhai is recovering. He has some niggles, but he’ll be fine soon,” Jaiswal said.
Meanwhile, LSG skipper Rishabh Pant said: “Pretty confident, we know this is a good wicket to bat on. Happy to either bat or bowl first. Definitely, as I said in the last few games, we have a lot to play for. As a team, we take pride and confidence in playing every match for our fans. At the same time, we want to put our best foot forward because we know we have a good team and we can do it. Aiden (Markram) is not there because he has gone (home) for his personal thing. And just one more, Shami is not playing and Mohsin is playing. Badoni comes in for Aiden.”
Teams:
Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): Mitchell Marsh, Josh Inglis, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohsin Khan, Mayank Yadav, Akash Maharaj Singh, Prince Yadav
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal(c), Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Dhruv Jurel(w), Donovan Ferreira, Shubham Dubey, Dasun Shanaka, Jofra Archer, Sushant Mishra, Sandeep Sharma, Brijesh Sharma, Yash Raj Punja