May 2 (Punjab Khabarnama) : Table-toppers Rajasthan Royals will eye 5 wins on the trot against the fiery Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday. The latter have fumbled lately with 2 consecutive defeats after having bamboozled in the bowling units of almost every team.
Inaugural edition winners RR downed the Lucknow Super Giants by 7 wickets where skipper Sanju Samson (71 runs off 33 balls) and Dhruv Jurel (52 runs off 34 balls) propelled their team past the 196-run target set by the hosts. Sandeep Sharma shined once again picking two wickets in his spell at an economy of 7.75.
On the other hand, former champions SRH have lost their batting sting lately in the season. On Sunday, they were outclassed by CSK after being stunned by the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday, April 25. The likes of Travis Head, Heinrich Klassen and Abdul Samad seem to have lost their batting touch after having played a pivotal role in taking SRH to the highest total In season’s history. The Orange Army will be once again counting on their batsmen to unleash devastation against the unstoppable Royals.
RR likely XI (if batting first)
Yashaswi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c/wk), Riyan Parag, Rovman Powel, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan
RR likely XI (if bowling first)
Yashaswi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c/wk), Riyan Parag, Rovman Powel, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan
Impact players: Navdeep Saini, Keshav Maharaj, Jos Buttler, Ravichandran Ashwin.
SRH likely XI (if batting first)
Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klassen (wk), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Jaydev Unadkat, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan
SRH likely XI (if bowling first)
Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klassen (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Mayank Markande, Jaydev Unadkat, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan
Impact Players: Washington Sundar, Umran Malik, Mayank Markande
Head-to-head
Both teams have met each other on 18 occasions and both of them have emerged victorious on nine occasions each. However, it was the Royals who had the last laugh over SRH in IPL 2023.
Pitch report
The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium is considered a slow-pitch offering help to the spinners in the initial stages of the game. Out of the 71 games played here, 41 matches have been won by teams batting second.
However, the surface has offered nothing less to the batters as well. The SRH posted a gigantic total of 277 against the Mumbai Indians in the first match they played at this venue and will look to replicate the same against the table-toppers as well.
Fantasy XI
Yashaswi Jaiswal, Travis Head, Sanju Samson (c/wk), Riyan Parag, Heinrich Klassen, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan.