Ahmedabad, Apr 9 (UNI) Star all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga’s absence due to personal reasons was the big news ahead of Rajasthan Royals’ clash with Gujarat Titans in the 23rd match of IPL 2025 at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Wednesday.
RR skipper Sanju Samson confirmed the Sri Lankan leg-spinner’s unavailability at the toss and announced Fazalhaq Farooqi as his replacement in the playing XI. Opting to field first, Samson cited the likelihood of dew in the second innings as a key factor in his decision.
“There is going to be dew here. Each and every game in the IPL is important, we are grateful for the last two games and want to take the momentum forward,” he said.
GT captain Shubman Gill, who said he too would have preferred to bowl first, stated that his team would remain unchanged. “Looking at the past few matches, dew has come in during the second innings but we have batted first here. We are taking it one game at a time and not keeping track of how many games we have won,” Gill said, adding that the support at home has been “tremendous.”
Playing XIs:
Gujarat Titans: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (capt), Jos Buttler (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, R Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ishant Sharma.
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (capt/wk), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande.
Impact Substitutes:
Gujarat Titans: Washington Sundar, Nishant Sindhu, Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, Arshad Khan.
Rajasthan Royals: Kunal Singh Rathore, Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal.
