Siddarth Kaul IPL 2022 price: Why is Mohammed Siraj not playing today’s IPL 2022 match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Titans?

Why Mohammed Siraj not playing today: Royal Challengers Bangalore have made a solitary change to their Playing XI tonight.

During the 67th match of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League between Royal Challengers and Gujarat Titans at the Wankhede Stadium, Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya has won the toss and chose to bat.

“We are going to bat. The kind of situation we are in, we thought we can practice batting first and putting a good score on the board. Obviously we had done well as a group, but we haven’t capitalized batting first on opportunities,” Pandya told Star Sports at the toss.

In spite of being the first team to qualify for playoffs this season, Titans have refrained from resting their key players in their last league match. Having said that, their lone change has come in the form of fast bowler Lockie Ferguson returning to the Playing XI in place of Alzarri Joseph.

“We kind of asked all the boys if they wanted rest, but they are all pumped to play all the games. Everyone said let’s continue the rhythm,” Pandya added.

Why is Mohammed Siraj not playing vs Gujarat Titans today?

Much like his counterpart, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis also wanted to set a total in what is a must-win match for them. Another common element between both the teams is them making a change in their fast bowling department.

“We would have batted too. Looks a bit dry than it usually does in the evenings. One change to see if we can do a little bit better in the powerplay, so Sid [Siddharth] Kaul comes in for [Mohammed] Siraj. We have to win today and Delhi need to lose their game. The only thing we can control is get the W in the column today,” du Plessis told Star Sports at the toss.

As mentioned by du Plessis, RCB have included Kaul in a bid to pick wickets in the powerplay. In 13 IPL 2022 matches, Siraj’s eight wickets have come at an average of 55.25, an economy rate of 9.82 and a strike rate of 33.7.

Kaul, who is celebrating his 32nd birthday today, is making his debut for Bangalore. Kaul, who had made his IPL debut for Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals) in 2013, had represented Sunrisers Hyderabad between 2017-2021. Having registered himself in the price category of INR 75 lakh for IPL 2022 mega auction held in Bengaluru earlier this year, Kaul was bought by Royal Challengers for the same price.