RCB opt to bowl, Patidar continues as Impact Player

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on a mixed-soil pitch in Lucknow. Rajat Patidar will come in as Impact Player when RCB bat.

With Tim David injured, RCB brought in Liam Livingstone. Josh Hazlewood, who has joined the squad, also sat out. Jitesh hinted both Hazlewood and David would be available for the playoffs. The other change for RCB was Nuwan Thushara replacing Lungi Ngidi, who has gone back to South Africa.

Just like Ngidi for RCB, Aiden Markram was unavailable for LSG. Matthew Breetzke replaced him, while Digvesh Rathi returned after serving a one-match ban. Akash Deep made room for him.

The pitch had a nice covering of grass, but Matthew Hayden felt it could be a bit tacky and cutters into the wicket could be the way to go. He did not expect a high-scoring game.

The square boundaries are more or less equal: 64 and 66 metres. The straight boundary is 74 metres.

Lucknow Super Giants: 1 Matthew Breetzke, 2 Mitchell Marsh, 3 Nicholas Pooran, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), 5 Ayush Badoni, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Himmat Singh, 8 Shahbaz Ahmed, 9 Digvesh Rathi, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Will O'Rourke

Impact Player options: Akash Singh, Prince Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Arshin Kulkarni

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Liam Livingstone, 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Romario Shepherd, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Yash Dayal, 10 Nuwan Thushara, 11 Suyash Sharma

Impact Player options: Rajat Patidar, Rasikh Dar, Manoj Bhandage, Tim Seifert, Swapnil Singh