During today's IPL match between Lucknow Supergiants and Rajasthan Royals, all eyes will be on the form and fitness of Indian batsman KL Rahul. Rahul could not play the last four Test matches against England due to injury. The Lucknow captain would like to perform well not only as a batsman but also as a captain.
Under his leadership, the Lucknow team was successful in making it to the playoffs in the last two seasons. However, last season he got injured after half the season and then the team played under the captaincy of Krunal Pandya. Rahul may play as a batsman in the initial matches of the IPL but taking on the additional responsibility of wicketkeeping will increase his chances of getting a place in the Indian team for the T20 World Cup.
Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson is also a contender for a place in the Indian team as a wicketkeeper in the ICC tournament and he will also try to perform well from the beginning. Rajasthan Royals reached the final in 2022 where they lost to Gujarat Titans. Last season too she had a good start but finished fifth.
The batting of Royals is very strong in which apart from captain Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler are also in excellent form. The team has a good finisher in the form of Dhruv Jurel who performed brilliantly in the Test series against England. Samson may try to strengthen the middle order by keeping West Indies' Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell in the team.
As far as Lucknow is concerned, apart from captain Rahul, they will depend on Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran for batting. Lucknow has a useful spinner in Ravi Bishnoi who would like to perform well in the IPL and become a strong contender for a place in the World Cup squad.
Lucknow will also benefit from the experience of 41-year-old spinner Amit Mishra, but their fast bowling attack is weak due to the absence of Mark Wood and David Willey and fitness problems of Indian players Mayank Yadav and Mohsin Khan.
Probable playing-11 of both the teams
Rajasthan Royals:
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (captain and wicketkeeper), Shimron Hetmyer, Ryan Parag, Rovman Powell, Dhruv Jurel, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal. Impact Deputy:Kuldeep Sen
Lucknow Supergiants:
Quinton de Kock (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Deepak Hooda, KL Rahul (c), Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Shamar Joseph/Naveen-ul-Haq, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan. Effect Sub: Shivam Mavi.
When is the match between Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Supergiants?
The fourth match of IPL 2024 will be played today between Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Supergiants.
Where will the match between Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Supergiants be played?
The fourth match of the league between Rajasthan and Lucknow will be played at Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur. The match will start at 3:30 pm Indian time. The toss will take place at 3 pm.