Rajasthan elect to bat, Williamson returns for Hyderabad

Both the teams will be keen to register their first win of the season.

Ajinkya Rahane has won the toss and Rajatshan have elected to bat against Hyderabad in the eighth match of the Indian T20 League 2019 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday. (Hyderabad vs Rajasthan: FOLLOW LATEST UPDATES)

Rajasthan have retained the same playing XI which played against Punjab. Meanwhile, for Hyderabad, Kane Williamson, who did not feature in Hyderabad’s first game against Kolkata as he was recovering from the injury he sustained during the Test series against Bangladesh, has returned to the side and will lead the team.

Shakib Al Hasan, who was a part of the playing XI in the last game against Kolkata, and Deepak Hooda have been dropped from the playing XI, making way for Williamson and Shahbaz Nadeem. (ALSO READ: SRH vs RR: The five major talking points)

“We’re looking to bat first. I don’t know how this wicket will behave but I am sure that the wicket won’t change much in the 40 overs, so looking to put runs and then defend. We’re going in with the same combination; we don’t believe in a lot of changes,” said Rahane while discussing why he opted to bat.

“I think staying in the present is all what this format is all about. We need to stick to our strengths and back ourselves,” he added.

Williamosn too said that his side too would have batted first had they won the toss.

“We would’vs liked to bat first as well. It is important that we do it well with the ball early now. Shakib and Hooda miss out from the last match. Myself and Shahbaz Nadeem come in. It looks like a good surface and it is important that we adapt with the ball first up and it’s all about executing our skills and our plans. The injury recovery is coming along nicely. Every side enjoys playing at their homeground in front of a wonderful crowd.

The Ajinkya Rahane-led side was in charge of the proceedings and looked favourite to beat before R Ashwin’s Mankaded Jos Buttler. However, despite Buttler’s wicket was a big blow, Rajasthan lost the plot as the following batsmen failed to guide the team home.

Teams:

Hyderabad: David Warner, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Kane Williamson (captain), Vijay Shankar, Yusuf Pathan, Manish Pandey, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul

Rajasthan: Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson, Steven Smith, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni