Maharashtra take on Rajasthan in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023 group-stage encounter on Friday. The match will be played at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium, Mullanpur. While the two teams take each other on the playing field, the fantasy cricket managers have a chance to pick their favourite players and form their teams. The performance of the players on the field will translate to points for each fantasy team picked, and the manager with the team with the most points stands a chance to win attractive prizes.
Maharashtra are currently third in the Group D points table, with three wins in five matches. They have accumulated 12 points and have a terrific net run rate of +1.299 and a win on Friday can take them back up to the top of the table.
Maharashtra defeated the current table-toppers Vidarbha in their previous match. Chasing a target of 180, Ruturaj Gaikwad’s unbeaten century helped Maharashtra complete the run chase in only 16.1 overs.
Rajasthan, meanwhile, aren’t having the best of time in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. They have picked up two wins in five matches and find themselves far away from contention for a place in the knockout stages. In their previous match, Rajasthan defeated Uttarakhand by four wickets. After bowling out Uttarakhand for 160 runs in the first innings, skipper Deepak Hooda’s half-century guided the team to a win.
Probable playing XIs
Rajasthan: Abhijeet Tomar, Mukul Choudhary, Mahipal Lomror, Deepak Hooda (c), Kunal Singh Rathore (wk), Deepak Chahar, Arjit Gupta, Manav Suthar, Aniket Choudhary, Rahul Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed
Maharashtra: Kedar Jadhav (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nikhil Naik (wk), Ankit Bawne, Azim Kazi, Arshin Kulkarni, Dhanraj Shinde, Prashant Solanki, Pradeep Dadhe, Satyajeet Bachhav, Siddharth Mhatre
Maharashtra vs Rajasthan Fantasy XI
Wicket-keepers: Nikhil Naik, Kunal Singh Rathore
Batters: Kedar Jadhav, Mahipal Lomror, Ruturaj Gaikwad
All-rounders: Deepak Chahar, Deepak Hooda, Arshin Kulkarni
Bowlers: Satyajeet Bachhav, Rahul Chahar, Prashant Solanki
Since Maharashtra are the team in a better position and are favourites to win, we have gone with six players from their team.
Kunal Singh Rathore has scored 100 runs in four matches at a strike-rate of 153.84, while Nikhil Naik too has batted aggressively at the top of the order, scoring 42 runs at a strike-rate of 150.
Among batters, Ruturaj Gaikwad is a top contender alongside Kedar Jadhav and Mahipal Lomror. Jadhav has scored 94 runs in four innings at a strike-rate of 174.54, while Lomror too have been among the runs this season.
Rajasthan’s Deepak Hooda got a half-century in the last match and is in good form, while Arshin Kulkarni has scored 100 runs and picked up four wickets in the tournament for Maharashtra.
Rahul Chahar is an experienced leg-spinner, who already has five wickets in four matches. Satyajeet Bachhav and Prashant Solanki from Maharashtra, have scalped seven and five wickets, respectively.
Captain: Ruturaj Gaikwad
Ruturaj Gaikwad is the top run-scorer for Maharashtra with 232 runs in five matches. He averages 77.33 and it has come at a strike-rate of 179.84, including a century in the last match. He is the best option for captaincy in this fixture.
Vice-captain: Deepak Chahar
Deepak Chahar has been in fine touch with the ball, taking eight wickets in four matches. He averages 15.62 with the ball and also is contributing well with the bat, scoring 67 runs at a strike-rate of 176.31.
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