Rajasthan Royals have won the toss and have opted to field
Ajinkya Rahane: It’s important to start well, and the preparation that we have had has been fantastic. We need to start well, get some momentum, and stay in the moment. We’ll bowl first. Looks like a good wicket. Won’t change much. It’s all about staying in the process and staying in the process. Jos Buttler, Archer, Smith, Stokes – our overseas players.
Ravi Ashwin, Punjab captian: New recruits in the side, lots of young talent. New season, new hopes. Don’t think the wicket will change much, but we were also looking to bowl first. As far as this bunch goes, they are very keen, and there is no baggage from the past, so we don’t care about the old records. Our overseas players – Pooran, Gayle, Mujeeb and Sam Curran.
Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): Chris Gayle, Lokesh Rahul(w), Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ankit Rajpoot
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane(c), Jos Buttler(w), Steven Smith, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson, Krishnappa Gowtham, Rahul Tripathi, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni