Ahmedabad, May 22 (IANS) Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bowl first against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Eliminator clash of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Wednesday.

The winner of the Eliminator will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 at Chennai on Friday. RCB made it to the playoffs after winning their last six consecutive league matches, while RR came on the back of four consecutive losses and their last league game being washed out in Guwahati.

After winning the toss, Samson said Shimron Hetmyer is back in the playing eleven after recovering from injury and is expected to be slotted in when RR begin their chase.

“Would like to bowl first looking at the conditions and the wicket. There was dew last night. It's all about the mindset. Really excited to come and play in this fabulous stadium,” he said.

“Great energy here. Looking at what has cricket taught us. When you have bad days, need to have character and confidence. That has been the challenging part - fitness and injuries,” he added.

The RCB skipper Faf du Plessis said he would have liked to bowl first too, if the coin toss had fallen in his favour and added his side is unchanged from their 27-run win over defending champions Chennai Super Kings.

“Watching the game last night, there was assistance for the seam bowlers early on. This looks on the drier side with some fake grass on top. We've had that mindset right through. Focusing on your own skills, being true to the way you want to play.”

“Last game against CSK was an unbelievable one. Less is more. People think when you get to the knockout stages, you need to be Superman. It's just showing the boys that you trust them,” he said.

Playing XIs:

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Sanju Samson (c/ wk), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal

Impact substitutes: Shubham Dubey, Donovan Ferreira, Nandre Burger, Shimron Hetmyer and Tanush Kotian

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Yash Dayal, Mohammed Siraj and Lockie Ferguson

Impact substitutes: Swapnil Singh, Anuj Rawat, Suyash Prabhudessai, Vijaykumar Vyshak and Himanshu Sharma