IPL, Rajasthan Royals vs SunRisers Hyderabad Preview: RR Face Formidable SRH At Home

Kane Williamson-led SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) are high on confidence after having successfully defended two low scores against Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab. Placed second on the IPL points table with 10 points, SRH will now look for their third consecutive victory when they take on Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Sunday. After starting their IPL 2018 campaign with three wins, the Hyderabad-based franchise faltered a bit, losing matches against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK). While captain Williamson has carried Hyderabad's batting on his shoulders, amassing 259 runs from seven innings with an average of 43.16, Shikhar Dhawan and Wriddhiman Saha have been a disappointment. (Play Fantasy Cricket & Win Lakhs everyday!)

Saha has been inconsistent with just 68 runs from seven games while Dhawan has scored 146 runs from five innings.

Hyderabad mostly rely on their bowlers and they have eclipsed the below-par batting of their side. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who is out of the team due to injury, has scalped six wickets from four games, with an economy under seven.

Spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Rashid Khan have bagged eight and nine wickets respectively from seven games. Pacer Siddarth Kaul has been the most impressive with nine wickets from seven games.

Basil Thampi, on the other hand, has featured in just a couple of games for Hyderabad and came out with flying colours against Mumbai and Punjab, respectively.

Earlier, when RR and SRH met, Yusuf Pathan had shown glimpses of his old attacking batting, with a 27-ball 45, but failed to repeat the show against Mumbai and Punjab.

As for Rajasthan, they will be taking the field after a week's break and will eye their fourth win of the tournament.

With three wins and as many defeats, Rajasthan are placed fifth with six points.

Till now, Rajasthan have had an erratic campaign. They lost their tournament opener to SRH by 9 wickets but gained momentum and registered two back-to-back wins against Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

However, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings outclassed them by seven wickets and 64 runs, respectively, in the next two games.

Rahane has looked good but has not been converting good starts into big scores. All-rounder Ben Stokes and Rahul Tripathi have been inconsistent.

Sanju Samson has been the standout with 239 runs from six games, averaging 47.80.

Rajasthan's bowlers -- K Gowtham and Ben Laughlin -- have performed well while leggie Shreyas Gopal has also been economical. But the trio have failed to click as a unit.

Squads:

Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Ben Stokes, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Rahul Tripathi, D Arcy Short, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Sudhesan Midhun, Ben Laughlin, Mahipal Lomror, Aryaman Birla, Jatin Saxena, Dushmantha Chameera, Heinrich Klaasen, Ish Sodhi

SunRisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Shakib Al Hasan, Manish Pandey, Carlos Brathwaite, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha, Rashid Khan, Ricky Bhui, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,, Deepak Hooda, Siddarth Kaul, T Natarajan, Mohammad Nabi, Basil Thampi, K Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Sachin Baby, Chris Jordan, Tanmay Agarwal, Shreevats Goswami, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Alex Hales

(With IANS Inputs)

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