Hyderabad, April 13 (IANS) Left-handed batter Lhuan-dre Pretorius and right-arm pacer Tushar Deshpande come in as Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Monday.

Inaugural champions RR arrive on the back of winning all four of their games, while SRH, the IPL 2016 winners, return to their home ground after losing to Punjab Kings by six wickets in New Chandigarh.

Deshpande replaces Brijesh Sharma, while Pretorius comes in as Shimron Hetmyer is rested. “A new wicket for us, first time it’s been used this season as well. So hopefully there’s a little bit of stickiness at the start. We’ve chased down a lot of totals here. We fell short in 2024, so hopefully not the case this time.

“It’s been a journey. I was under (Sanju Samson) Bhaiya for the longest time, and then Sanga did really well in improving me with all the decisions and involved me in all the tactical and strategic meetings. Now I think I’ve taken the onus up. Had to make a lot of tough calls, but happy to be here,” said RR captain Riyan Parag.

SRH skipper Ishan Kishan said fast bowlers Sakib Hussain and Praful Hinge replaced experienced pacers Jaydev Unadkat and Harshal Patel. “I think I’ve been doing this for a long time. I was a leader in Under-19 India, I’ve been doing it for my state team, and I think it makes you more aware of the situation, more focused on the game.

“You look to do more for your team because it’s never about individual performance, it’s always about teamwork. So we have done it, and I think we’re doing it in a very good manner. I think obviously it makes a difference when you’re the captain of the team and you’ve been doing well.

“It shows a lot of maturity, that a player has a certain amount of growth in him now. So it did help me a bit in the last few years when I’ve been a leader of my side and done well for the team. It made me come back to the Indian side. So what else can you ask for?” he said.

Playing XIs

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (captain), Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Sandeep Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, and Tushar Deshpand

Impact Substitutes: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravi Singh, Shubham Dubey, Brijesh Sharma

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (captain & wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, and Praful Hinge

Impact Substitutes: R Smaran, Sakib Hussain, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, Harshal Patel

–IANS

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