India and Delhi Capitals (DC) batter KL Rahul is set to return to batting at number four against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Thursday, April 10 at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, informed captain Axar Patel as he opted to bowl first. Rahul played a magnificent innings of 77 (51) in the last game against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), opening the innings as Du Plessis was ruled out due to an injury.
However, with the former South Africa batter regaining his fitness, he’s all set to open the innings alongside Jake Fraser McGurk. Rahul missed the first match of the season against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) following the birth of his newborn girl and made a return in the second fixture against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) where he scored quickfire 15 (5).
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“We will bowl first. My fingers are fine, protecting it, but if needed, I will bowl all four overs. Faf is fit, he’s in and (Sameer Rizvi) Rizzie is out. We’ve decided on our order and KL will bat in the middle-order. Spinners will have a role here, but the fast bowlers can also take wickets. They’ll have to play thee roles they’ve been selected to do, we’ve two good leg-spinners, they’re our attacking options, we have defending options as well, so we’ll have to play according to whatever the match situation demands” said Patel at the toss.
Meanwhile, there were no changes in the RCB playing XI, informed captain Rajat Patidar. He also spoke about the importance of winning home matches to keep their momentum going.
“We would have loved to chase, but the surface looks hard, we’ll look to put up a good total and defend it. I always back my instincts, but I do plan as well. It’s important to win home matches as well, important to have the momentum going. No changes for us,” said Patidar at the toss.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal
Impact Subs: Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Dar Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): Faf du Plessis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, KL Rahul(w), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel(c), Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Mohit Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar
Impact Subs: Abishek Porel, Darshan Nalkande, Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Donovan Ferreira
 batter KL Rahul will be marking his return in the middle order against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) as Faf du Plessis has returned to playing XI.){kind=link}