Rajasthan Royals' newly-appointed skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bowl first in his side's IPL 2021 opener against Punjab Kings on Monday.
Four players -- Shivam Dube, Manan Vohra, Mustafizur Rahman and Chetan Sakariya -- will be making their debuts for the Rajasthan-based outfit. "We are going to bowl first. We have challenges to face while picking the XI. Morris, Stokes, Buttler are out overseas players. Very excited about the role," said Samson.
For Punjab, Riley Meredith, Jhye Richardson and Shahrukh Khan will be making their debuts. 'Universe Boss' Chris Gayle handed out debut cap to Shahrukh."We all know the history of Wankhede. Everyone wants to bowl first. But we would want to play good cricket. We can't really pinpoint anything particular.
It is about the batting group helping the bowling group and vice versa. We were really happy with the auctions. Meredith, Richardson, Gayle and Pooran are our foreign players," said KL Rahul.
Rajasthan will be banking heavily on their swashbuckling all-rounder Ben Stokes and new recruit Chris Morris, who will be eager to justify his staggering price tag of INR 16.25 crore.
Punjab, on the other hand, will rely on skipper Rahul to find his rhythm at the top. The Karnataka lad had an impressive season last year in the UAE where he scored 670 runs to clinch the Orange Cap. Partnering Mayank Agarwal at the top, Rahul had produced many good starts for his side.
Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings have played 21 matches in the IPL so far, where RR have registered a win on 12 occasions.
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Shahrukh Khan, Jhye Richardson, Murugan Ashwin, Riley Meredith, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Jos Buttler(w), Manan Vohra, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson(c), Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Shreyas Gopal, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman
