Vaibhav Suryavanshi To Replace IPL Veteran? RR's Probable XI vs KKR

Vaibhav Suryavanshi - (Source:@Johns/X.com)

On Wednesday, March 26, in match 6 of IPL 2025, Rajasthan Royals will take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Baraspara Stadium in Guwahati. It is a crucial match for both teams as as they are yet to open their account in IPL. 

Rajasthan suffered a defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad, while KKR faced embarrassment against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Talking about RR, they still had several positives from their opener.

Despite leaking 286 runs against SRH, RR managed to score 242 runs. However, the management is likely to make several changes for the upcoming match, and this article will shed light on RR's possible changes for their upcoming match.

No Changes In Opening Pair

Rajasthan have one of the finest opening pairs in the tournament, and Sanju Samson too shrugged off any injury concerns as he scored 66 (37), which was the second-highest score for RR vs SRH that day. Despite Jaiswal's rare failure, he is all set to retain his place and expected to shine at the top. 

Also, it would make no sense to impose changes at the top based on just one failure, as it is just the start of the tournament. 

Vaibhav Suryavanshi To Replace Nitish Rana In The Top Order? 

One possible change that RR can look to make is the inclusion of 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi. The southpaw showed promise during the U-19 Asia Cup when he was shown for the Boys in Blue. 

Nitish Rana struggled to bat at no.4, and his recent figures in IPL haven't been too great. Further, Vaibhav, who opened the innings for the India U-19 side, is expected to bat at No.4.

Lets Look At Nitish Rana's Stats In Last Few Season

Rana's last break-out season was in IPL 2023 during his stint with KKR. However, he missed most of the IPL 2024 season because of injury and later was left out of the side because of team combination. 

No Other Changes Expected In Middle-Order

Despite defeat against SRH, RR's middle-order shone at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium. Besides Riyan Parag's failure, Dhruv Jurel silenced his critics with a scintillating knock of 70 (35). Further, Shimron Hetmyer too rose to the occasion and whacked 42 (23), which featured one four and four sixes. 

The man who impressed the most was Shubman Dubey. The 30-year-old whacked 34 (11) at a strike-rate of 309 to keep RR alive. Lets look at Dubey's Performances across tournaments since IPL 2024.

Looking at the stats, then the reason why RR backed Dubey was because of the strike-rate he bats at. Further, the right-hand batter showed the same against SRH.

Major Changes In Bowling: Ex-MI Star Likely To Make RR Debut

RR bowlers went for a toss in their opening match against SRH. They leaked 286 runs and the likes of Jofra Archer also registered an embarrassing feat of leaking most runs in an IPL match (76). 

They had three-overseas players (Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, and Fazalhaq Farooqi). Farooqi is likely to be left out of the squad and RR might opt for an Indian option- Aakash Madhwal, who shone for MI in 2023 season, where he carried the side despite Bumrah's absence. However, RR is likely to go ahead with Tushar Deshpande. 

Rest, RR might look to add another spin option given the nature of Baraspara Stadium and bring in Wanindu Hasaranga in. 

Lets look at Hasaranga's stats since IPL 2024.

Hasaranga has had a brilliant year overall and deserves a place in the playing XI.

RR's Probable XI

Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Jofra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana.

---

ALSO READ

'Not Gonna Happen' - Riyan Parag's Bold Call Before IPL 2025 For SRH Goes Horribly Wrong

---