Sanju Samson will be eager to help Rajasthan Royals maintain their unbeaten run in the ongoing UAE leg of IPL 2021, despite the absence of Chris Morris.
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Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Sanju Samson has opted to field after winning the toss in Match 36 of the ongoing 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) against Delhi Capitals (DC). The Royals have gone with two major changes to the lineup for the encounter. Tabraiz Shamsi and David Miller have been included in place of Evin Lewis and Chris Morris, marking an interesting development. DC skipper Rishabh Pant has gone with a largely unchanged lineup. However, even the Delhi-based franchise have been forced to take a major decision with Lalit Yadav replacing all-rounder Marcus Stoinis. There are question marks over the fitness of the Australian cricketer, which may have influenced the decision making.
Samson termed his decision to field as being influenced by the ease in batting second, in case of a day game.
“We will bowl first. It’s a day game, it becomes easier to bat second. We have all settled down and moved on to this game, it was a complete team effort by everyone. Evin Lewis and Chris Morris miss out; Tabriez Shamsi and David Miller are in. They have a balanced side, we are looking forward to an exciting game,” said the RR skipper as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Pant admitted that even he would have looked to field, but refused to ponder too deeply over losing the toss.
“We were looking to bowl first as well, but it doesn’t matter. There will be a bit on the wicket in the day game. One change for us, Lalit Yadav replaces Marcus Stoinis. It’s good to be nearing a record, but we’re not looking at individual performances, not thinking too much about qualifying,” stated the DC skipper.
Morris had discussed the previous match against Punjab Kings (PBKS) before the beginning of the encounter against DC. The South African even seemed excited which makes his exclusion even more puzzling.
“Was a roller-coaster, the last game was pretty tough on us with both bat and ball. But we fought until the last ball, happy with the result, but not so with our performance on the day, but we’ll take the points. I haven’t played any cricket (between the two IPL phases), a lot of guys have been training hard and we have been lucky that some of our internationals did get to play, but a lot of us haven’t played and you saw the rustiness in the last match, especially on the field,” he stated.
“But at the end of the day, you need to shake it and perform on the field. It’s pretty warm, we did some training this week. But at the end of the day, we are all professionals and need to switch on to combat (the sweat). I have been lucky with some wickets, someone will travel on the day, last match was my turn, but we need to manage as a unit for the team,” added Morris.
Lineups:
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Liam Livingstone, David Miller, Mahipal Lomror, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Kartik Tyagi, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman, Tabraiz Shamsi.
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Lalit Yadav, Shimron Hetmyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan.
