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RR Opt To Bowl First Against Faf Du Plessis And Co In A Nail Biter At Ahmedabad

RR wins the toss RR wins the toss

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Royals are pumped up to clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium. In the crucial do-or-die Eliminator, RR won the toss and opted to field first.

RCB vs RR: Playing XIs

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Playing XI : Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Rajat Patidar, Mahipal Lomror, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Lockie Ferguson

Rajasthan Royals Playing XI : Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Sanju Samson (c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal

RCB vs RR: Pitch Report by Ian Bishop and Matthew Hayden

Bishop: "It's the Eliminator. You lose and you go home. Both teams coming in with contrasting form. RCB, winning streak. RR on a losing streak. I'm standing here just beside the pitch that was used yesterday and the boundaries were equidistant. Today, it is slightly different. Away to my right, 61 m. That's a short side. 68 m to my left and 73 m down the ground. Again, the captains will be looking for the match-ups and force the guys to hit to the bigger boundary. Matthew Hayden who could clear all these easily. Matthew come in and what do you think about tonight's surface?"

Hayden: "I see that it is very similar actually. It's quite dry. It's extremely firm. It's maybe got a little bit of grass cover. Last night, in my opinion, the dew dramatically affected the game. It became a lot better as the evening went on. It's currently now 43 degrees Celsius. It has been 48 degrees Celsius. It has been sweat on. But there is so much water in the surface that it is creating so much of dew."

But on the surface, as a whole, also the wicket on this wicket has been something that the groundsmen had to control because of the heat. There was a little bit of seam movement early on and a little bit of swing. So watch out for those fast bowlers to get that movement laterally or through the air. Otherwise, this wicket was a very high-scoring wicket in the group stages. Lots of runs."

RCB vs RR: Captain's Thoughts

Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals Captain): "We would like to bowl first. Looking at the conditions and keeping the dew in mind, we will bowl first. It's all about the mindset. It's all about how you play tonight. It's fabulous to come here. It's a great stadium. What cricket has taught us, you will have good days and bad days. But after the bad days, we must have the character to bounce back. That has been a bit challenging part. IPL is a long tournament. Shimron Hetmyer comes in and rest is the same side."

Faf du Plessis (Royal Challengers Bengaluru Captain): "I was looking to do the same only if I was able to win the toss. Yeah, plenty of dew. We watched the game last night. There was something in it for the bowlers. Seam movement a bit. We had that Mindsight throughout. The last game against Chennai Super Kings was an unbelievable one. Less message is more important. You don't need to be a super-human effort in the knockouts. Same team for us."