IPL 2022’s table-toppers Gujarat Titans will take on Rajasthan Royals in the Qualifier 1 of IPL 2022 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Tuesday. Rajasthan are coming into this game after winning their last encounter against Chennai Super Kings while Gujarat faced a moral crushing 8-wicket defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore. RR have the momentum but GT is the best team of the season so far.
Hardik Pandya might look to drop Matthew Wade, who is going through the worst patch. He was picked by GT after his heroics for Australia in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. GT bought him for Rs 2.40 Cr but Wade has failed to pay rich dividends this season. In eight games, the Gujarat opener has scored just 114 runs and is averaging around 15. Gujarat may look to replace Wade with someone like Rahmanullah Gurbaz who can bat in the top order and make full use of the powerplay.
On the other hand, Sanju Samson’s side is coming into this game high on confidence. Their biggest concern is the form of Jos Buttler which is putting more pressure on their lower order. R Ashwin has stepped up in the last few games but they need more depth in their batting. In order to deal with this problem, RR team mangement can add James Neesham in place of Obed McCoy. The West Indian pacer McCoy has done nothing wrong but Neesham can bat in the lower order and can bowl medium pace as well.
Predicted Playing XI
Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Lockie Ferguson, Yash Dayal, Mohammed Shami
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Obed McCoy
Full Squads
Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha, Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade (wk), Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Lockie Ferguson, Yash Dayal, Mohammed Shami, Pradeep Sangwan, Varun Aaron, Jayant Yadav, Vijay Shankar, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Dominic Drakes, Noor Ahmad, Alzarri Joseph
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Devdutt Padikkal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Obed McCoy, Karun Nair, James Neesham, Rassie van der Dussen, Corbin Bosch, Navdeep Saini, KC Cariappa, Daryl Mitchell, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Garhwal
