IPL 2018: Each franchise's key battles for a spot in the starting XI

Rajasthan Royals

D'arcy Short will be hoping his impeccable form earns him a starting spot in the Rajasthan lineup

D'arcy Short vs. Jos Buttler

Having spent extravagantly on Steve Smith, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, these three are almost a certainty in the Rajasthan Royals' starting 11. This leaves D'arcy Short and Jos Buttler battling it out for the final foreigner slot. This is going to be a tough choice for the Rajasthan Royals management.

On one hand, there is D'arcy Short who is in the form of his life. He was by far the best player of the tournament in the Big Bash League and was the league's highest run-scorer by miles. He scored back-to-back nineties and immediately followed it up with a spectacular century. He scored 572 runs in 11 games at an average of 57.2. He did this at a strike rate of close to 150 too! He then continued his spectacular form for Australia, scoring some fine knocks for his country. Short is yet to make his IPL debut and it will be interesting to see how D'arcy Short will adapt to Indian conditions.

On the other hand, Jos Buttler has IPL experience under his belt and has shown how lethal he can be. He has amassed 527 runs in his 24 games at an impressive strike rate of 145.98. He is flexible with batting positions too, as he can bat right on top of the order or come pack a punch late down the batting order too. He is one of the most destructive batsmen in the shortest format of the game with a wide variety of strokes in his playbook. It will be hard to keep the English wicket-keeping batsman out of the playing 11, and the Rajasthan Royals have a difficult decision to make on their hands.