IPL 2019: Jos Buttler to not feature in the game against Mumbai Indians

The Rajasthan Royals (RR) will be hosting the Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday in the first of the doubleheader games. It is an extremely important game for them as they are in a must-win situation at the moment. However, they have been dealt with a severe blow just ahead of the encounter as their ace batsman Jos Buttler has flown back home to be with his wife Louise for the birth of their first child.

The news was confirmed by BBC just before the game and it remains to be seen how the Royals fare in Buttler’s absence. He was their designated opener and had played a brilliant knock of 89 runs off 43 balls in the previous face-off against MI. In his absence, Rahul Tripathi and Ajinkya Rahane are likely to open the innings while Steve Smith has been handed over the captaincy.

RR make three changes to the team

Meanwhile, the Royals have won the toss and opted to field first. They had to make three changes to their line-up for this game. Apart from Jos Buttler, Rahul Tripathi and Ish Sodhi were left out while Steve Smith (captain) and Ben Stokes came into the playing XI.

Talking about the change in leadership during the toss, Smith said, ” Ajinkya has done a terrific job in the last one and a half year and the team management thinks there’s a ned for a change. I have done a bit of leadership in the IPL with a bit of success, hopefully, I can lead the team well. Plenty of games coming up in the next few days.”

Meanwhile, Mumbai left out Jayant Yadav for Mayank Markande as the pitch tends to be on the slower side in Jaipur and it will be interesting to see if the move works for them.

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