IPL 2022: Why is Mohammed Siraj not playing today's RCB vs GT match?

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have dropped pacer Mohammed Siraj from their XI for their must-win IPL 2022 game against Gujarat Titans (GT) on Thursday. Former SunRisers Hyderabad pacer Siddarth Kaul has replaced him in the playing XI.

Despite coming into the season off a brilliant international stint, Siraj has struggled for form in this season's IPL. In 13 games, he has picked up eight wickets but at a career-worst economy rate of 9.82. The IPL team particularly missed his best form in the powerplay: his economy rate jumping from 6.43 in 2021 to 9.80 in 2022.

Meanwhile, the Royal Challengers have picked the fewest wickets in the first six overs - 14 - which is almost half that of the Titans, who lead the category this season.

At the toss, Royal Challengers captain Faf du Plessis said that Siraj was replaced by Kaul, as the team hopes to fare better in the powerplay. Kaul was a surprise choice, though. In 44 IPL IPL games, he has taken 58 wickets, but only 12 have come in the powerplay, while 25 have come in the slog overs.

Kaul is widely considered a death-overs specialist as well. It's in this phase where he uses his experience and slower-ball variations to deceive batters, much like Harshal Patel. The Wankhede pitch could suit him in this regard but how much impact he can have in the powerplay remains to be seen.

However, what works in his favour is that he has worked on his batting and might provide the Royal Challengers with more depth in the lower order.

Check out the IPL purple cap 2022 here.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore Playing XI without Mohammed Siraj

Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Siddarth Kaul, Josh Hazlewood.