The Rajasthan Royals (RR) took on the Gujarat Titans (GT) in Match 23 of IPL 2025 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. While RR fans were expecting Wanindu Hasaranga to continue his brilliant bowling form they were in for a surprise as the Sri Lankan spinner was missing from the playing XI.

why-wanindu-hasaranga-is-not-playing-for-rr-vs-gt

Skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bowl first citing the dew factor in Ahmedabad as a key reason. However when asked about Hasaranga’s absence Samson confirmed that the spinner misses out due to personal reasons.

“Hasaranga misses out due to personal reasons. Farooqi comes in,” Samson stated at the toss.

Hasaranga’s absence comes as a blow to Rajasthan especially considering his recent impact. The leg-spinner was instrumental in RR’s back-to-back wins bagging 4/35 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and dismissing Nehal Wadhera in the commanding 50-run win over Punjab Kings (PBKS).

With Hasaranga out RR brought in Fazalhaq Farooqi to add variety to their bowling attack. The Afghan pacer’s inclusion offers left-arm pace and new-ball swing which could prove effective against GT’s top order.

Final Playing XIs for RR vs GT – IPL 2025, Match 23

Rajasthan Royals:

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande

Gujarat Titans:

Shubman Gill (c), B Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, R Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna