The toss was delayed by 15 minutes due to a wet outfield.
Desperate to exorcise the ghosts of the spot-fixing scandal once and for all, Rajasthan Royals will look to start afresh as they face the daunting prospect of running into IPL 6 winners Mumbai Indians.
The fact that the tournament will be the last one for veteran Sachin Tendulkar, who will be pitted against another great and contemporary Rahul Dravid at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, makes the contest even more special.
Rajasthan can take confidence from the fact that they would be starting their campaign in their own den, where they had won all their eight matches during the sixth edition of the IPL.
The hosts were one of the only two teams this year in IPL to remain unbeaten at home and despite the lack of big names in their ranks, apart from Shane Watson and Dravid, players such as Brad Hodge, Stuart Binny, James Faulkner, Kevon Cooper and Ajinkya Rahane enabled the team finish third.
On the other hand, Mumbai Indians have a formidable team with the right balance and options in all departments.
Sachin Tendulkar would be eager to bow out with flying colours while the likes of Kieron Pollard, skipper Rohit Sharma, Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Kartik and Ambati Rayudu provide an invincible look to their batting.
Teams:
Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (Capt.), Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson, Sanju Samson (wk), Stuart Binny, Brad Hodge, Ashok Menaria, Kevon Cooper, James Faulkner, Vikramjeet Malik, Rahul Shukla.
Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar, Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Keiron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Harbhajan Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Mitchell Johnson, Pragyan Ojha .
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