IPL 2023: 3 surprise picks for Dream11 fantasy team for RR vs GT match
The Rajasthan Royals (RR) go up against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the 48th match of IPL 2023 on Friday, May 5, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Both these teams come into this game on the back of defeats they wouldn't have expected to suffer. The home side lost to the Mumbai Indians, with a Tim David blitzkrieg condemning Yashasvi Jaiswal's incredible century to a losing cause.
Meanwhile, the Titans made a mess of a low-scoring run-chase, batting too slowly and allowing themselves to be choked in the middle overs and eventually losing to the Delhi Capitals despite another rearguard effort from Rahul Tewatia.
Earlier this season, RR won round one of the rematch of last season's final, with Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer playing some terrific knocks to revive the Royals after Shami and Hardik blew them away with their opening spell of bowling.
This should be a cracking game filled with top performances, and on that note, let's look at three surprise picks for RR-GT Dream11 contests.
#3 Dhruv Jurel (RR)
Dhruv Jurel has been one of the finds of the season and someone who has benefitted from the Impact Player rule. Brought into the Rajasthan Royals playing XI as an Impact Player for a couple of games, Jurel impressed with his clean ball-striking abilities and confident shot selection, and ability to tee off right from ball one.
Those six-hitting abilities could come in handy against a bowling attack like Gujarat Titans', which is expected to challenge the RR top order. While Jurel isn't required to bat that early in most games, an opponent like GT could reduce RR to four-down or five-down in a flash, and he could be forced to play a knock similar to what Ayush Badoni did against Chennai Super Kings a couple of days back.
Considering the role Jurel plays for his team, his ownership is low, but if you're looking for a high-risk punt, he could certainly be one.
#2 Joshua Little (GT)
Signing Joshua Little was a smart bit of business by the Gujarat Titans at the IPL 2023 Auction and the Ireland left-arm quick has delivered whenever called on to bowl by skipper Hardik Pandya. While he has been unlucky not to have more wickets to his name, he has provided GT with much-needed control in many tricky situations.
This will be Little's last game of this IPL season before he leaves to join the Ireland national team ahead of their ODI series against Bangladesh, and he'll want to go out with a bang.
GT's bowling attack is going to pick up wickets in almost every game, and while backing Shami, Hardik, or Noor Ahmad is usually the way to go, you could take a punt on Joshua Little.
#1 Adam Zampa (RR)
Adam Zampa could return to RR's playing XI in place of Jason Holder if the Sawai Mansingh Stadium churns out a pitch that is a turner for this match. The Australian leg-spinner has picked up five wickets in only three matches and bowled a match-winning spell of 3/22 in his last game against Chennai Super Kings.
While Zampa was replaced by Holder keeping the conditions in mind for the game against Mumbai Indians, the big ground and the slower track is enough reason to bring Zampa back into the side. GT's batting lineup has struggled with intent and strike rate in the middle overs and has relied on David Miller, Vijay Shankar, or more recently, Abhinav Manohar to bail them out of some tough spots.
Zampa isn't an easy bowler to score runs off in any conditions and on any venue, and at a place like Jaipur, he is safe as houses. If he plays, his ownership will be low, and he will be an excellent Dream11 differential.