Rajasthan opt to bat against Gujarat in IPL final

Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bat first against Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League final on Sunday.

Rajasthan were unchanged from their thrashing of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the second qualifier at the world's biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.

"It is a used wicket, we're playing the second game here and (it) looks dry," Samson said in front of a nearly packed stadium that can accomodate 132,000 fans.

"Everyone is very positive and excited to play the IPL final in front of this fabulous crowd."

Home team Gujarat have made one change in a bid to win the title in their debut season with Lockie Ferguson coming in for Alzarri Joseph.

"We would have bowled first. Very overwhelming to see so many people come and support us," said Gujarat captain Hardik Pandya.

"We want to treat this game as normal as possible and take the right decisions. The boys are chilled out, credit to the support staff."

The 15th edition of the world's richest domestic cricket tournament witnessed the addition of two new sides including Lucknow Super Giants to make it a 10-team event.

Teams

Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade, Hardik Pandya (capt), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Lockie Ferguson, Yash Dayal, Mohammed Shami

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (wk and capt), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Obed McCoy, Yuzvendra Chahal

Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZL), Nitin Menon (IND)

TV Umpire: KN Ananthapadmanabhan (IND)

Match Referee: Javagal Srinath (IND)