Rajasthan Royals’ veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was omitted from the crucial fixture against Delhi Capitals on Sunday due to workload-related issues. Speaking after losing the toss and being asked to bat first, Rajasthan skipper Riyan Parag revealed that Jadeja was left out of the side to manage his workload levels. Uttar Pradesh-born wicket-keeper Ravi Singh replaced Jadeja in the XI, making his IPL debut.
Interestingly, the Royals have only featured in two matches in three weeks this month, enduring successive losses to Delhi and the Gujarat Titans.
“As far as today is concerned, there’s just one change. Jaddu bhai misses out because of his load management and all of that,” said Parag, who is also returning for his first match since picking up a hamstring injury in the previous match against Delhi in Jaipur.
The 37-year-old Jadeja, who returned to his first IPL franchise via a trade deal from Chennai Super Kings ahead of the season, has featured in 11 matches. The left-hander has amassed 190 runs with a best of 45 while picking up eight wickets at economy of 7.84 this season. Before the IPL season that began in late March, Jadeja last featured in a Ranji Trophy match for Saurashtra against Punjab in late January.
With Punjab Kings losing to Royal Challengers Bengaluru earlier in the day, RR have a golden chance at taking a huge step in the race for the playoffs. They are on 12 points but have as many as two games in hand on PBKS who are one place above them at fourth on 13.
Rajasthan Royals: Riyan Parag (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravi Singh, Donovan Ferreira, Shubham Dubey, Jofra Archer, Adam Milne, Brijesh Sharma, Yash Raj Punja.
Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel (capt), Abishek Porel, KL Rahul (wk), Sahil Parakh, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Mukesh Kumar, Madhav Tiwari, Tripurana Vijay, Mitchell Starc, Lungi Ngidi.
