Team Watch
Rajasthan Royals
Injury/Unavailability: No new niggles reported
Tactics & Match-ups: Trent Boult has had the wood over GT's struggling opener Wriddhiman Saha, dismissing him thrice in 24 balls and giving away just 22 runs.
Probable XI: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Jason Holder, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma
In their last home game, RR used left-arm pacer Kuldip Yadav as the impact sub in the absence of Trent Boult, who was out with a niggle. In the game that Boult returned (against MI in Wankhede), Kuldeep Sen - the right-arm quick - was the sub but bowled just one over for 20 runs. It could be one of these two quicks swapping in, in this fixture.
Through the middle-overs, Chahal will be key against GT skipper Hardik Pandya, who has been batting at one-drop lately. While Hardik has favourable numbers against the impressive R Ashwin (64 off 43 balls, 0 dismissals), he has found it tough to put away the leg-spinner (48 runs off 57 balls, 3 dismissals). Ashwin however, can tie down the left-handed David Miller, who only scores at a measly 112.33 against him.
Gujarat Titans
Injury/Unavailability: This could be Joshua Little's last game this season before joining the national squad for the ODI series against Bangladesh in England that begins from May 9.
Tactics & Match-ups: Denying RR the chance to lay the PowerPlay platform through Buttler should be GT's top-priority, and for that they have the leading wicket-taker this season Mohammed Shami. The fast bowler also has the most wickets in the PowerPlay this season (12), four more than the next best Mohammed Siraj.
By his lofty standards, Buttler has had a quiet season, which GT will hope to extend on Friday. Buttler has scored 79 off 62 balls against Shami at a strike rate of 127.42, which are modest numbers by his lofty standards. Shami has also dismissed him twice - including in the reverse fixture last month for a five-ball duck.
Shami is also the man for GT to deal with RR's finisher Shimron Hetmyer. The West Indian has been dismissed four times in the 24 balls he's faced against him and has scored just 17 runs. For Sanju Samson, GT's go-to bowler has to be Rashid Khan who has conceded runs at just 117.20. To put that in perspective, the RR captain scores at a strike rate of 186.21 and 156.67 against Shami and Hardik Pandya.
Probable XI: Wriddihman Saha, Shubman Gill, Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed, Joshua Little, Mohammed Shami
Based on what happens at the toss, either of Shubman Gill or Mohit Sharma will be the impact substitute [Gill if they bowl first, Mohit if they bat first].
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