Romario Shepherd, Kuldeep Sen ( Photo source : IPL )
Rajasthan Royals are hosting the Mumbai Indians in a key game of IPL 2024 on Monday at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Sanju Samson and his side are currently top of the table after their win against Kolkata Knight Riders.
On the other hand, Mumbai Indians come into the game after their close win against Punjab Kings. The win enabled Hardik Pandya and his team to achieve their third win of the season with half of the season done.
Hardik Pandya won the toss and chose to bat first and made three changes to his team. Romario Shepherd the West Indian star was dropped. Shreyas Gopal and Akash Madhwal too were benched for the game as Nuwan Thushara, Piyush Chawla, and Nehal Wadhera came into the playing XI. Sandeep Sharma was the only player who came in for RR replacing Kuldeep Sen.
Why are Romario Shepherd and Kuldeep Sen not playing?
After making his IPL debut in the game against SRH, Romario Shepherd scored a swashbuckling 39 off 10 versus Delhi Capitals. The next few games saw the 29-year-old score just two runs from three games and remain wicketless with the ball.
As far as Shreyas Gopal is concerned, the 30-year-old was seen with a bandaged hand in the last game against PBKS. Considering it was a fitness issue the Mumbai Indians team management didn’t want to take any risk and hence Piyush Chawla was given a game.
Akash Madhwal hasn’t been able to do well with the ball in the last few games. The right-arm pacer was smashed to all parts of the ground by Ashutosh Sharma and Harpreet Brar in the last game.
Rajasthan Royals decided to bring in Sandeep Sharma for Kuldeep Sen due to his prowess with the new ball. The veteran seamer has also been one of the best death overs bowlers during this season of the IPL for the Royals.
Rajasthan Royals XI –
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, and Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact Players – Jos Buttler, Keshav Maharaj, Shubham Dubey, Navdeep Saini and Tom Kohler Cadmore.
Mumbai Indians XI –
Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Mohammad Nabi, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, and Jasprit Bumrah
Impact players – Nuwan Thushara, Akash Madhwal, Naman Dhir, Shams Mulani, and Dewald Brevis