Rajasthan Royals elect to bat against Knight Riders

Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne won the toss and opted to bat against Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League encounter on Saturday.

Rajasthan Royals would be desperately seeking to snap their three-match losing streak.

Despite Yusuf Pathan's hurricane 37-ball 100, 2008 champions Royals lost their opening match against Mumbai Indians.

They were done in by a Virender Sehwag special against Delhi Daredevils before a free fall against Royal Challengers Bangalore saw them slump to IPL 3 lowest total of 92.

Shane Warne's side, which has lost South African Graeme Smith and Englishman Dmitri Mascarenhas due to injuries, will have to come up with something special to arrest the slide.

New recruit Shaun Tait has been disappointing so far leaking runs and the Jaipur-based side will have to think whether to continue with the Australian fast bowler.

The Knight Riders, on the other hand, began IPL 3 with a bang with two consecutive wins, against defending champions Deccan Chargers and last edition runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore, only to suffer a comprehensive loss at the hands of Chennai Super Kings.

The Knight Riders though will be strengthened by the return of swashbuckling West Indies batsman Chris Gayle who joins the side and either of Brad Hodge or Manoj Tiwary will have to drop down the order.

Teams (From):

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (capt.), Ajit Agarkar, Shane Bond, Ashok Dinda, Eklak Ahmid, Rohan Gavaskar, Brad Hodge, Varun Aaron, Chris Gayle, Iqbal Abdulla, Murali Kartik, Harshad Khadiwale, Charl Langeveldt, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Chirag Pathak, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wriddhiman Saha, Owais Shah, Ishant Sharma, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Manoj Tiwary, Ganapathi Vignesh.

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (capt.), Swapnil Asnodkar, Johan Botha, Faiz Fazal, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Kamran Khan, Michael Lumb, Damien Martyn, Morne Morkel, Sumit Narwal, Naman Ojha (wk), Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Amit Paunikar, Syed Quadri, Abhishek Raut, Amit Singh, Shaun Tait, Siddharth Trivedi, Amit Uniyal, Shrikant Wagh.