IPL 2019: RR's strongest playing XI for their first game against KXIP

The Rajasthan Royals will kick off their IPL campaign with a home fixture against the Kings XI Punjab on 25th March. Last year, the Royals made a tremendous comeback, led by Jos Buttler, and somehow qualified for the playoffs after a poor start. Steve Smith will make a comeback to the IPL after serving a one-year ban and the Royals will look to secure the points with a victory in front of their home fans.

Rajasthan have a gaping hole in their squad. Their primary overseas players will leave during the business-end of the league and they'll be left with the backup foreign players, who have little or no experience of playing in India. They should've made better signings than Liam Livingstone and Ashton Turner and shouldn't have overspent on Jaydev Unadkat.

Nevertheless, their first team is very strong and RR will want to rack up as many points as possible when their star players are available and will want to get off to a winning start.

Here's RR's strongest playing XI for the match against KXIP.

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Openers- Jos Buttler( Wicket-Keeper) and Ajinkya Rahane(C)

Jos Buttler will be key

The Rajasthan Royals have a set XI to play for their first game but the batting positions of the players may clash due to the arrival of Steve Smith and some adjustments might be needed.

Jos Buttler should certainly continue to open the batting as his hard-hitting can help the Royals get off to great starts.

Partnering him will be skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who looked a bit out of sorts when he demoted himself to No.3 to accommodate D'Arcy Short and Rahul Tripathi. He will feel more comfortable batting at the top. Rahane might consider using himself as a floater and give Tripathi the chance to open or bat at No.4 or even 5 if the situation suits the aggressive players more.

Middle Order- Sanju Samson, Steve Smith and Rahul Tripathi

Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripathi

The RR middle order looks stable with the presence of players such as Smith and Sanju Samson. Due to Smith's presence, RR can mix things up in the middle order.

Samson will be one to watch out for. He should certainly face a lot of deliveries and should bat at No.3 if Rahane opens. If he's settled in, he can be a menace to the opposition with his well-timed hits to the fence and elegant gap-finding strokes.

Smith is a world-class player with adequate T20 experience and has played a few brilliant knocks in the IPL. He will take some time to find his feet but he has the talent to cause all sorts of trouble for the bowling side.

Tripathi looked uncomfortable in his batting position at No.6 but he has to adjust due to the circumstances in the team. He can walk in to bat a bit early if the situation warrants aggression and it all comes down to how Rahane employs himself as far as the batting order is concerned.

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All-Rounders- Ben Stokes and Shreyas Gopal

Shreyas Gopal celebrates after taking a wicket

RR possess one of the best all-rounders in the entire world but he's yet to deliver the kind of performances which is expected from him. Ben Stokes did a poor job with both the bat and the ball last year as he scored just 196 runs and picked up 8 wickets in 13 matches. He didn't look settled while batting and often perished attempting a big stroke right from the onset.

Stokes will want to correct his mistakes and occupy the No.5 position which he usually does. He will be asked to bowl 3-4 overs depending on the situation and his pace will be of great effect on a hard Jaipur track.

Shreyas Gopal is a proper all-rounder. The leggie is a decent middle-order batsman for his state, possessing sound technique and can build partnerships as well as score quick runs at the death. He's a very effective leg spinner who follows the orthodox style of bowling and has a very well disguised googly. He had a good time last season and was in great form in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, winning it with Karnataka.

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Spinner- Krishnappa Gowtham

Gowtham appeals for an LBW

Krishnappa Gowtham too is a good lower order batsman, who bowls off-spin primarily. Gowtham can wield the willow to good effect and can score runs at a very quick rate. He's also a very versatile spinner who can bowl at all stages of the game. After initial struggles to live up to his hefty price tag, Gowtham got into his element and gave good performances with both the bat and the ball.

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Pacers- Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat and Varun Aaron

Jaydev Unadkat

Jofra Archer will be RR's X-Factor once again as he will look to extend his tremendous T20 form into the IPL. Archer is likely to make it to England's World Cup squad and could miss the business-end of the tournament. He is the team's strike bowler and can be called upon to bowl at any stage of the match.

Unadkat has a huge weight of trust and price to bear on his shoulders after the RR management put faith in him and bought him for ₹8.4 Crore after his dismal outing last season where he picked up just 11 wickets at a poor economy of 9.65. His recent form has been good and he'll look to correct his previous mistakes.

Varun Aaron should be preferred over Dhawal Kulkarni as the latter had a poor IPL 2018. Also, he lacks the pace to make too much of an impact and while the side need an opening bowler, the ball is anyway not going to swing too much and that robs Kulkarni off his main weapon. Aaron looked in good form in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy picking up 9 wickets in 5 matches and his pace and bounce can prove to be a differential for Rajasthan.

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