IPL 2025: Rajasthan Royals’ Riyan Parag opts to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad in season opener

"We’ve decided to bowl first as the pitch looks dry, and we’d like to chase later. Captaining the team means a lot to me—I started my journey here as a 17-year-old, so stepping into this role is exciting. Filling in for Sanju is a big responsibility, but the impact rule works in our favor. We've retained most of our core players, which gives us stability in the batting order. Our three overseas players will be Theekshana, Jofra, and Farooqi. It's always important to start strong, and we've put in a lot of preparation," said Parag at the toss.

Hyderabad: Rajasthan Royals (RR) stand-in skipper Riyan Parag won the toss and elected to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the second match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 here at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday.

Parag will lead RR in the first three matches, as regular captain Sanju Samson will only be available as a specialist batter for the said duration.

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“Bowling first. Looks like a dry wicket so we’ll have a crack at it later. (On captaincy) Means a lot, started here as a 17-year-old. Getting to fill in big shoes, very excited. The impact rule helps with Sanju. We’ve retained a lot of our core so that helps with the batting order. The other three overseas will be Theekshana, Jofra and Farooqi. Always good to start well, we have practiced a lot,” Parag said at the toss.

On the other hand, SRH captain Pat Cummins expressed confidence in his team to build on last year’s momentum. Ishan Kishan and Abhinav Manohar are making their SRH debuts.

“It is great to be back. The core of the group is the same, the coaching staff is the same. Don’t think batting or bowling first matters. It is pretty hot, so don’t mind bowling second. Would be nice to keep last season’s form going. We always encourage our games to play with freedom. Abhi and Heady with hopefully continue from last year, and Nitish and Klassen are there as well. Ishan Kishan and Abhinav Manohar will be making their debuts,” he said.

Playing XIs-

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubham Dubey, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag (c), Dhruv Jurel (w), Shimron Hetmyer, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

Impact Substitutes: Sanju Samson, Kunal Singh Rathore, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Kwena Maphaka

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (w), Aniket Verma, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins (c), Simarjeet Singh, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami.

Impact Substitutes: Sachin Baby, Jaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari, Adam Zampa, Wiaan Mulder.