Rajasthan Royals' Sanju Samson started IPL 2020 like a house on fire. He decimated the Chennai Super Kings, hammering nine sixes to score 74 off 32 deliveries. Then he turned towards Kings XI Punjab, scoring 85 off 42 balls, clearing the fence seven times, not to mention four fours. Pat Cummins, the Kolkata Knight Riders pace spearhead, had a poor opening match against Mumbai Indians, going for 49 off three overs but recovered brilliantly against SunRisers Hyderabad with figure of 1/19 off four overs. So if the RR batting goes as per the plot so far and Samson comes in early, Cummins could well have to face the music, but the Aussie is surely up for it.
Samson has been in the middle of two 200-plus scores by Rajasthan Royals and that seems to be a strategy for the batting heavy team, with the likes of Steve Smith and even Rahul Tewatia getting into action. So, the KKR bowling led by Cummins will have to negate this assault.
Samson has played 95 IPL matches so far, for 2368 runs at a strike rate of 133.78 with two centuries and 12 half-centuries.
Cummins has been part of 18 matches for 18 wickets for an economy of 8.44.
While the numbers seem to favour Samson, Cummins possibly sent down on of the best spells in IPL 2020 against SRH, so he seems to be hitting his straps fine. This will be one of those face-offs that could leave fans wanting more.
Note: All stats courtesy iplt20.com