Rajasthan Royals start with Parag sidelined and three changes vs Gujarat Titans in 2026

Rajasthan Royals named Yashasvi Jaiswal as captain and chose to bowl first against Gujarat Titans in Jaipur on Saturday.

New RR skipper Jaiswal Yashasvi Jaiswal took charge as Rajasthan Royals captain in Jaipur, making his debut as leader by donning the pink jersey. He won the toss and elected to bowl first. His leadership debut came after Riyan Parag was ruled out due to a hamstring strain picked up during the eight-day break since RR’s last match against Delhi Capitals. Parag had scored 90 off 50 balls in that game and was set to play under Jaiswal’s captaincy. ## Hetmyer returns for injured Parag Shimron Hetmyer returned to the Rajasthan Royals starting XI to strengthen the batting lineup following Parag’s injury. Nandre Burger was dropped after struggling with an economy rate of 10.33 and an average of 37.33 across his 10 appearances this season. Dasun Shanaka was brought in as a replacement, marking his second game of the year. Yash Raj Punja also made the squad, pushing Ravi Bishnoi to the bench despite RR choosing to bowl first. ## RR bench and replacement opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was named as the substitute and assigned to open the batting during the chase. The full Rajasthan Royals bench included Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Adam Milne, Ravi Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, and Sushant Mishra. Dhruv Jurel was retained as wicketkeeper in the XI announced by Jaiswal. ## Gujarat Titans make one change Gujarat Titans showed their recent winning form by making only a single adjustment to their side, with Prasidh Krishna named as the likely impact substitute by Shubman Gill at the toss. Krishna is set to replace Manav Suthar, who conceded 27 runs in the single over he bowled against Punjab Kings in their previous fixture. ## GT batting-first XI and bench Shubman Gill led Gujarat Titans into bat first with Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler, Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, and Mohammed Siraj in the XI. Their bench featured Prasidh Krishna, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, R Sai Kishore, and Kumar Kushagra. The Titans’ stable lineup reflected their strong recent performances. ## RR bowling-first XI details Rajasthan Royals sent out Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Shubham Dubey, Dasun Shanaka, Jofra Archer, Brijesh Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, and Yash Raj Punja to bowl first. The team chose to field first after winning the toss in Jaipur. Shimron Hetmyer’s inclusion aimed to bolster the batting order with Parag missing due to injury.