Who should replace Jos Buttler in Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings IPL 2020 match?

Jos Buttler: The English white-ball vice-captain will miss the first match of IPL 2020 against Chennai Super Kings.

England and Rajasthan Royals wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler will miss their first match of the ongoing 13th season of the Indian Premier League against Chennai Super Kings on September 22.

Buttler was originally among the 22-player English and Australian contingent which reached the UAE days before the tournament began after completing their white-ball series in England.

However, the 30-year old player opting to travel separately with his family will need him to undergo a mandatory six-day quarantine in Dubai before joining the squad.

“I’m unfortunately going to miss the first match for Rajasthan because I’m going to be doing my quarantine period because I’m here with my family – which is great that the Royals have allowed me to have my family out here. It’ll be a huge help in lockdown having my family here with me,” Buttler said during an Instagram live session on Royals’ page.

Who should replace Jos Buttler in RR vs CSK match?

In Buttler’s absence, Rajasthan will have to look for both an opening batsman and wicket-keeper batsman. With Sanju Samson already a vital cog in the wheel in the Playing XI, the former department doesn’t need much pondering.

Samson, who has opened the batting for various franchises in the past, can do the same on Tuesday as well. Having said that, the presence of specialist opening batsmen in Robin Uthappa, Manav Vohra and Yashasvi Jaiswal should see them batting at the top ahead of Samson.

While Uthappa was the most likely candidate to open the batting alongside Buttler, one expects Vohra to replace the Englishman for the first match of IPL 2020. Vohra, who has played for Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the past, was bought by Royals in IPL 2019 but didn’t get a match in the last season.

With England all-rounder Ben Stokes also unavailable for the match against Chennai, Rajasthan would be tempted to play South Africa batsman David Miller and an extra overseas fast bowler.

Rajasthan Royals Probable Playing XI vs CSK

1) Manan Vohra 2) Robin Uthappa 3) Steve Smith (c) 4) Sanju Samson (wk) 5) David Miller 6) Riyan Parag 7) Rahul Tewatia 8) Shreyas Gopal 9) Tom Curran 10) Jofra Archer 11) Jaydev Unadkat