Dubai: Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Shreyas Iyer opted to bat first after winning the toss against Steven Smith-led Rajasthan Royals in the 30th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Dubai International Cricket Stadium here on Wednesday.
At the toss, RR skipper Steve Smith said, "I was gonna bat as well. Hopefully we can bowl well, restrict them and chase it later on. It's obviously used wicket and hopefully we will put some pressure with the ball. We are playing the same team. And yes, Ben (Stokes) will open again."
Delhi Capitals skipper Shreyas Iyer said, "We will bat first. It's been dry and like we saw the other games, it's holding a bit. We want to approach every game positively and we got really good bowling attack to execute our plans. We got good back-ups who can come and perform, we are definitely missing him (Pant). We got one change. Tushar Deshpande is making his debut for us and he comes in for Harshal Patel."
The Steve Smith-led RR are placed at the sixth place in the standings, and would hope for a spirited show in order to keep their play-offs hopes alive.
On Wednesday, RR have a bright chance of settling scores against the Shreyas Iyer-led DC as they have their most lethal weapon, Ben Stokes, back in the side.
On the other hand, DC are placed second in the points table but they do have worries. After losing the services of Amit Mishra and Ishant Sharma for the rest of the IPL, DC will have to hit the field also without Rishabh Pant, who has been sidelined for a week due to hamstring injury.
Pant's absence was visible against Mumbai Indians (MI) as DC failed to post a total they deserved and ultimately were on the receiving end.
Teams:
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w), Steven Smith(c), Sanju Samson, Robin Uthappa, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer(c), Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey(w), Axar Patel, Tushar Deshpande, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje
