Lucknow Super Giants won the toss and opted to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals in the 20th match of the 2022 Indian Premier League at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.  

IPL debutants Lucknow Super Giants got off to an excellent start, winning three of their four matches. The side lost its opening game narrowly to fellow first-timers Gujarat Titans, but have since recorded comprehensive wins over Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals. They are currently placed third in the points table.

“Every game starts fresh and I’ve not had a great game here. It always balances out. Just want to come out and do the job for the team. We’re chasing, so we’ll know what to do and I can pace my innings accordingly. We have a great team and that makes the team of a captain easy. When you have experienced players and about 9/10 of the players in the first XI are international players, it makes the captain’s role easier. I’m enjoying the captaincy. Two changes – Lewis and Tye miss out, Stoinis and Chameera come in,” LSG skipper KL Rahul said after winning the toss. 

Sanju Samon-led RR have won two matches, beating Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians by 61 runs and 23 runs respectively.

“We did the same thing last time (batting first), so just need to put runs on the board and defend it later. Nothing can be done about the toss, our team is well-balanced to deal with that factor. We have two changes – Kuldeep Sen in for Navdeep Saini, Rassie van der Dussen in for Yashasvi Jaiswal,” Samson said after losing the toss.

Playing XI

LSG – KL Rahul (captain), Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, Krishnappa Gowtham, Dushmantha Chameera, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan

RR –  Jos Buttler, Rassie van der Dussen, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper/captain), Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Kuldeep Sen, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal