Slip ups are quite common in the IPL, and Rajasthan Royals know that too well, having messed up a good position in the previous season which resulted in them not making the playoffs cut. They had won five out of their first eight games before losing their way in the latter half of the competition in 2023. But they have learnt their lessons and are riding high with eight wins in nine games in 2024, and have a foot in the playoffs door. Their opponents on Thursday are sailing in a similar boat RR found themselves in last season.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, who have set a new benchmark for batting in T20 cricket, were looking formidable with their brand of cricket which had earned them five wins in seven games. But successive losses against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings, both by big margins and both while chasing, have rocked their smooth-sailing boat. And they will be hoping to avoid the situation that the Royals ended up in last year.
Having been used to flamboyant starts from the opening duo of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, Sunrisers have struggled to cover ground whenever the openers haven’t clicked. That, along with Heinrich Klaasen’s low scores in the last few outings and Aiden Markram not being in the best touch, have exposed a few chinks in SRH’s batting armour as they fell well short in 200-plus run-chases in their last two games. Skipper Pat Cummins has also been expensive in his last two outings, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar has not been penetrative enough, adding to SRH’s problems. With the business end of the tournament coming soon, they need to pull their socks up with the other teams looking to catch up.
A loss sandwiched between four successive wins on either side, things have been going well for the Royals this season. Their openers have struck centuries, the captain Sanju Samson has been delivering consistently with the bat – which has even earned him a spot in the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup – and Dhruv Jurel has also found form scoring a half-century in their win against Lucknow Super Giants. The bowlers have also been on the mark, with Sandeep Sharma being the stand-out in the last couple of games. If anything, they’ll be hoping for a few wickets for Yuzvendra Chahal, who also made the T20 World Cup cut, to help the legspinner regain his confidence having had a few expensive outings.
When: Thursday, May 2 at 19:30 IST
Where: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad
What to expect: Hyderabad hosted its first game of this season at the end of March when the hosts posted a massive 277 and Mumbai Indians gave them a scare before eventually finishing with 246. The game against CSK in early April saw the visiting side post 165 which SRH chased down in 18.1 overs. In the last game played here, SRH came unstuck chasing 206 as they finished with 171. It has largely been batters vs batters this season and Hyderabad is also a venue that has supported this trend. But there has been some help for the spinners in the recent matches played here, and could bring the likes of Chahal and R Ashwin into play.
Head to head: 9 – 9
Teams observe
Hyderabad’s Sunrisers
Injury/Availability: SRH currently do not have any injury concerns.
Tactics & Matchups: Bhuvneshwar, despite his lean patch in this IPL, has got a good record against Jos Buttler, having dismissed him six times in 91 deliveries in T20 cricket. Bhuvneshwar has also accounted for Samson three times in the IPL and SRH will be banking on the experienced pacer against the RR top order. T Nararajan is a good option against Riyan Parag as the left-arm seamer has dismissed the batter twice in 15 deliveries.
Probable XI: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Nitish Reddy, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan. [Impact sub: Anmolpreet Singh/Mayank Markande]
Royals of Rajasthan
Injury/Availability: No reported fitness concerns in the RR camp.
Tactics & Matchups: Although he has dismissed him three times in T20 cricket, RR will be wary of using Chahal against Klaasen as the batter has struck 93 runs at a strike rate of 226.82 off the legspinner. Meanwhile, they could look to target Travis Head with spin, although that would be a gamble considering there will be Abhishek at the other end who is known to take apart the spinners. An over of Sandeep, with his change of pace, could be productive early on.
Probable XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal. [Impact sub: Rovman Powell]
Did you know?
- Rajasthan Royals have won six out of six chasing in this IPL. Their only loss came against Gujarat Titans while batting first. Meanwhile, Sunrisers Hyderabad have only lost one game out of five batting first. Their defeat also came against the Titans
- Among the batters from both teams, Sanju Samson has the highest average in Hyderabad in the IPL – 71.75. His 287 runs at a strike rate of 147.17 is only behind Klaasen’s 351 runs, which have come at an average of 58.5 and a strike rate of 191.8
- Sanju Samson has scored 791 runs in 21 innings, at an average of 49.43, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, most for a player against this team. Virat Kohli is second with 762 runs in 23 innings against SRH
What they expressed:
“To be honest, I don’t think we have that many (bowling) options. It’s not Test cricket where the ball is swinging around or there’s much sideways movement, there’s not much in the wickets. A lot of the time, the best way to get a wicket is to try and defend. Batters are getting better and better at hitting the ball out of the stadium, and getting confident to do that in the eighth over. So the challenge is only as bowlers but I think if we do have a big total like we’ve had – 270, 260 – you feel you can make a big impact as a bowler by going for nine an over, and that can be match-winning” – Pat Cummins, SRH skipper.
