The 2008 Champions Rajasthan Royals will kick-start their campaign in the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League with a battle against Lucknow Super Giants at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Sunday at 3:30 pm.
The fans will see a comeback of KL Rahul to the cricket field following his injury while playing against England in the first Test match. He also could not be a part of the LSG in all the matches last year but has been declared fit for this season.
Rajasthan Royals will be hoping for a fresh start following a sublime performance last year and break their trophy curse to finally win the title after 2008.
What has happened so far?
The 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League saw Lucknow Super Giants continuing their streak from their debut season and reaching the playoff stage of the tournament. The side failed to win their first trophy following a loss against Mumbai Indians in the Eliminator by 81 runs.
After appointing a new head coach in Australia’s Justin Langer, LSG strengthened its batting unit this year by trading Avesh Khan to Rajasthan Royals to include Devdutt Paddikal in their squad before the IPL 2024 auction. In the Dubai auction, the Super Giants shelled out a whopping INR 6.40 crore on Shivam Mavi along with procuring Manimaran Siddharth, David Willey, and Ashton Turner.
In IPL 2023. the Royals failed to get into the playoffs as they were in fifth place with seven wins and seven losses from 14 league matches.
At the mini-auction, the Royals filled the gap left by the exclusion of Paddikal by adding Rovman Powell, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, and Shubham Dubey to the squad for IPL 2024. Avesh and Nandre Burger are RR’s new entries in their bowling unit.
Head to Head Record
Rajasthan Royals have battled it out against the Lucknow Super Giants a total of three times in the Indian Premier League so far. The Sanju Samson-led side has dominated the LSG with two wins to their name while the Super Giants have won only one match so far.
Key Players
Yashasvi Jaiswal (Rajasthan Royals): Yashasvi Jaiswal is having a dream run in 2024 and thus the chances of him continuing his golden form in the coming edition of the Indian Premier League are high.
The opening batter had a dream Test debut for India last month as he recorded two double centuries in the five-match Test series against England. Jaiswal was also the top run-scorer for the Royals last season as he ended up scoring 625 runs in 14 matches at an average of 48.08.
Nicholas Pooran (Lucknow Super Giants): All eyes would be on the West Indies superstar Nicholas Pooran as Lucknow Super Giants would be hoping to end their Eliminator jinx and win their maiden IPL trophy.
Named as the vice-captain of the franchise, Pooran will have the responsibility to carry the middle batting order. The wicketkeeper-batter had a good season last year as he ended up scoring an impressive 358 runs in 15 matches at a phenomenal strike rate of over 172.
Pooran is in stunning form and is likely to shoulder the responsibility in the LSG middle-order
Pooran is enjoying a good run with the bat this year as well as he showcased his mettle in various T20 leagues across the globe. He smacked 86 runs in three games at an average of 43 and a good strike rate of 159.25 while playing for the Durban Super Giants.
Team News from Both Camps
Ahead of IPL 2024, Langer would be down about missing the services of two English bowlers, David Willey and Mark Wood. Willey will be missing the first few games of the league because of personal reasons while Wood has been ruled out by the England and Wales Cricket Board to manage his workload.
The Lucknow-based franchise has named Shamar Joseph as Wood’s replacement and LSG fans will be eyeing how the West Indies fast bowler performs on Indian pitches after causing a massacre in Gabba.
Speaking of Rajasthan Royals, they are one of the strong sides in the tournament but would not have their full strength available for the season as Prasidh Krishna sustained an injury while playing a Ranji match earlier this year and has been ruled out of IPL 2024.
Predicted XIs
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson © (wk), Rovman Powell, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen
Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton De Kock (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, KL Rahul ©, Marcus Stoinis, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Shivam Mavi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ravi Bishnoi
Prediction
Both Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants would be eager to kick-start the 2024 edition of the cash-rich league with a victory on Sunday and thus the fans should gear up for a fiery clash at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Having said that, the Royals will have an edge as they appear to be a stronger and balanced side on paper. LSG is also likely to make a good case for winning, considering they made some fine picks during the IPL 2024 auction.