IPL 2019: RR's strongest playing XI for their first game against KXIP
The Rajasthan Royals will kick off their IPL campaign with a home fixture against the Kings XI Punjab on 25th March. Last year, the Royals made a tremendous comeback, led by Jos Buttler, and somehow qualified for the playoffs after a poor start. Steve Smith will make a comeback to the IPL after serving a one-year ban and the Royals will look to secure the points with a victory in front of their home fans.
Rajasthan have a gaping hole in their squad. Their primary overseas players will leave during the business-end of the league and they'll be left with the backup foreign players, who have little or no experience of playing in India. They should've made better signings than Liam Livingstone and Ashton Turner and shouldn't have overspent on Jaydev Unadkat.
Nevertheless, their first team is very strong and RR will want to rack up as many points as possible when their star players are available and will want to get off to a winning start.
Here's RR's strongest playing XI for the match against KXIP.
Also Read: IPL 2019: KXIP's strongest playing XI for their first game against RR
Openers- Jos Buttler( Wicket-Keeper) and Ajinkya Rahane(C)
The Rajasthan Royals have a set XI to play for their first game but the batting positions of the players may clash due to the arrival of Steve Smith and some adjustments might be needed.
Jos Buttler should certainly continue to open the batting as his hard-hitting can help the Royals get off to great starts.
Partnering him will be skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who looked a bit out of sorts when he demoted himself to No.3 to accommodate D'Arcy Short and Rahul Tripathi. He will feel more comfortable batting at the top. Rahane might consider using himself as a floater and give Tripathi the chance to open or bat at No.4 or even 5 if the situation suits the aggressive players more.