Why are RCB players wearing green jerseys in today’s IPL 2023 match against RR?
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are squaring off against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 32nd match of IPL 2023 today (April 23) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. All RCB players have donned green jerseys for this game and are not in their usual red and black ones.
It is part of their "Go Green" initiative, through which the franchise aims to promote environmental sustainability and create awareness about ecological issues. RCB have been playing wearing green jerseys in a solitary game every season since 2011.
Over the years, Royal Challengers have played 12 IPL matches in green jerseys. They have won only thrice while ending up on the losing side on eight other occasions. One match ended without a result. RR beat the RCB by 19 runs when they last wore the green threads in IPL 2018.
Before the toss this afternoon, both captains Sanju Samson and Virat Kohli exchanged saplings. RR captain Samson then won the toss and opted to bowl first. They dropped Riyan Parag and brought Devdutt Padikkal in the XI.
Virat Kohli also revealed that he was looking to bat first as the pitch looked dry and might slow down as the day progressed. They replaced Wayne Parnell with David Willey for this contest. Kohli said:
"We were going to bat first. This wicket looks much drier and we feel like it'll only get drier. The pitch is breaking up a lot. It would have been easier if we both knew what to do. It feels like this pitch is going to slow down and it'll get hard to score on. They informed me last game, saying I might have to captain for a couple of games. It's nothing I'm not used to. The only thing I was worried about was the toss, my toss record isn't great."
RCB XI:
Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Mahipal Lomror, Shabaz Ahmed, Suyash Prabhudessai, Wanindu Hasaranga, Vijaykumar Vyshak, David Willey, Mohammed Siraj
Impact Subs: Harshal Patel, Finn Allen, Akash Deep, Karn Sharma, Anuj Rawat.
RR XI:
Yashashvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jason Holder, Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact Subs: Abdul Basith, Akash Vasisht, Donovan Ferreira, Murugan Ashwin, KM Asif