Rajasthan Royals will start their IPL 2023 campaign on Sunday (April 2), facing Sunrisers Hyderabad away from home – here’s their predicted XI for the match, along with tournament prediction, squad and schedule.

Still searching for their second IPL trophy after winning the tournament in 2008, Rajasthan Royals lost out last year’s final to Gujarat Titans. They finished second in the league stage thanks in part to Jos Buttler’s century blitz. He scored four hundreds in the competition and finished as the Orange Cap winner for the season.

Rajasthan players took home both the batting and bowling individual honours last year with Yuzvendra Chahal also picking up the Purple Cap award. He took 27 wickets including a five-for against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Sanju Samson will once again lead the side in 2023, with Josh Hazlewood, Joe Root and Adam Zampa all picked up as overseas players in this year’s auction.

Rajasthan Royals Squad at IPL 2023

(Overseas players underlined)

Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Prasidh Krishna, Devdutt Padikkal, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, KC Cariappa, Dhruv Jurel, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, Jason Holder, Donovan Ferreira, Adam Zampa, KM Asif, M Ashwin, Akash Vashisth, Abdul Basith, Kunal Rathore, Joe Root.

Rajasthan Royals schedule at IPL 2023: Click here for match timings

Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2023: Team News

Prasidh Krishna has been ruled out of the 2023 tournament with a stress fracture in his back. Sandeep Sharma has been spotted training with the Rajasthan Royals squad but no official announcement on Krishna’s replacement has been made.

Buttler and Hetmyer are set to feature heavily as overseas starts for the franchise again. While Root is a standout name from the squad, it’s debatable how heavily he will feature given the slower rate at which he scores in T20s compared to others in the Rajasthan Royals squad.

There are plenty of high-quality spin options to call upon, with Chahal, R Ashwin and Zampa all fighting for a spot in the starting XI. Where Rajasthan could struggle slightly is their depth of pace bowlers. The injury to Krishna leaves them to rely upon Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav and KM Asif beyond their frontline options of Saini, Boult and McCoy – with Holder as the all-rounder.

Rajasthan Royals’ probable XI for first game of IPL 2023

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Butler, Sanju Samson (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, R Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult

Rajasthan Royals: IPL 2023 prediction

The Rajasthan Royals are among the front runners in this year’s competition. They could go all the way to the final once more – maybe this time the result will be in their favour.

Rajasthan Royals are 7/1 to win the IPL title with our Match Centre partners bet365. To bet on the outright market of the competition head here.