Match details

Rajasthan Royals (RR) vs Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)
Jaipur, 1530 IST (1000 GMT)

Big picture - Where will Rahul bat?

Where ever Rahul bats, the Super Giants boast a power-packed batting line up comprising de Kock, Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis that has helped them qualify for the playoffs in each of their first two seasons in the IPL.

Team news - Will Shamar Joseph make his IPL debut?

With David Willey unavailable to the Super Giants for the first few games for personal reasons, West Indies fast bowler Shamar Joseph could get his first outing in the IPL, having been signed as a replacement for Mark Wood. Shamar has limited T20 experience, but is a good hit-the-deck option and operates at high pace, as he showed in his Test heroics in Australia. Afghanistan's Navneen-ul-Haq is the other pace option for LSG, and could offer more variations than Joseph.

Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer and Trent Boult are shoo-ins for the Royals, and their new signing Rovman Powell could the frontrunner for the fourth overseas slot. Riyan Parag will also be in focus, after finishing as the highest scorer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy.

Toss and Impact Player strategy

Rajasthan Royals
With two wicketkeepers already in the XI, Sanju Samson and Buttler, Royals will likely use Dhruv Jurel as their impact batter, while one of Avesh Khan and Kuldeep Sen plays the impact role when they are bowling.

Probable XII: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 4 Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Riyan Parag, 6 Rovman Powell, 7 Dhruv Jurel, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal, 12 Kuldeep Sen

Lucknow Super Giants
Ayush Badoni will most likely be the impact sub for LSG if they are batting second, while Mohsin Khan or Shivam Mavi could come off the bench should they be batting first.

Probable XII: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 Deepak Hooda, 4 KL Rahul (capt), 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Ayush Badoni, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Shamar Joseph/Naveen-ul-Haq, 10 Ravi Bishnoi, 11 Mohsin Khan, 12 Shivam Mavi

Stats that matter

Pitch and conditions

The average first-innings score in Jaipur in IPL 2023 was 172, and it's not a venue where the toss has played a massive role, with the team batting first winning on three occasions and the chasing team winning twice. The pitch is likely to assist spinners more than the fast bowlers.