Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai Indians captain, has chosen to bat first at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, reckoning that the stadium's large boundaries would aid his team in defending a total. Rajasthan Royals captain Ajinkya Rahane said he had been looking to chase anyway.
Jofra Archer, Royals' USD 1.125 million acquisition, makes his IPL debut in place of Ben Laughlin, adding raw pace to their bowling attack and giving them an extra lower-order hitting option. Archer missed all of the PSL and the first five games of the IPL with a side strain.
 |
| Jofra Archer |
Royals made one more change, bringing in the seamer Dhawal Kulkarni for the allrounder Stuart Binny.
Mumbai were unchanged, with Ishan Kishan, who was hit near the eye by a throw from Hardik Pandya in their previous game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, fit to take the field again.
Rajasthan Royals: 1 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 2 Heinrich Klaasen, 3 Sanju Samson, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Jos Buttler(wk), 6 Rahul Tripathi, 7 Jofra Archer, 8 K Gowtham, 9 Shreyas Gopal, 10 Dhawal Kulkarni, 11 Jaydev Unadkat
Mumbai Indians: 1 Suryakumar Yadav, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Rohit Sharma (capt), 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Mitchell McClenaghan 9 Mayank Markande, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
