Kritika Naidu Preview
The commercial end of the tournament is near and both the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Rajasthan Royals have had their fair share of frustrations throughout the season. They showed a lot of promise in the early days, even carrying out unlikely steals, but both find themselves languishing in the lower half of the table, where there is a frantic scramble to reach the top four.
The common factor between the two teams has been their inability to close out the games they controlled. SRH skipper David Warner vehemently expressed his frustration after his latest loss to Kolkata Knight Riders in the Super Over. Warner had demoted himself to give strength to the fragile middle order considering Kane Williamson’s hamstring injury. Jonny Bairstow started with Williamson and got his team off to a good start, but quick wickets after the power play left Warner with a lot to do. He delivered into a groove that wasn’t his, almost even sided with him on the line, but SRH came up heartbreakingly short from a solo run to force a Super Over. Thereafter, SRH fell to its third loss in a row, still stuck at six points.
Rajasthan, meanwhile, scored a practical seven-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings a couple of days ago despite a known higher-order collapse. Steve Smith was Jos Buttler’s second fiddler, who led them home on tricky terrain where hitting was not easy. The decision to have Buttler in the middle order seems to be working for RR. However, it is the higher order of Ben Stokes, Robin Uthappa and Sanju Samson that needs to get in between races to push for wins.
His leg-turning twins in Shreyas Gopal and Rahul Tewatia, who play tandem in the middle, have been instrumental in tying down the opposition, complementing Jofra Archer at the top, forcing hitters’ mistakes. While RR has the cushion of an additional victory, time is running out for SRH, who cannot afford a slip. They need at least four wins in their last five games, while RR needs another three of the remaining four to have a chance of making the playoffs. Looking at how contested the tournament has been, it could come down to NRR separating the sides at the end.
What:RR vs SRH, Oct 22, 2020; 7:30 pm IST
Where:Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
What to expect:The wicket seems to stop a bit, but it still has a bit for pacemakers. The average score seems to be around 160-170, but the role of the bowlers is gaining importance as the tournament draws to a close.
Team news:
Royals of Rajasthan: Rajasthan Royals: After Unadkat’s horror of RCB 25’s runs on the penultimate switch and was instrumental in RR losing the game they controlled for the most part, they brought Rajpoot in for the left arm. Although Rajpoot pitched only one against CSK with six bowling options at his disposal, RR should retain the same XI.
Probable XI: Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson (week), Steven Smith (c), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot, Kartik Tyagi
Hyderabad Sunrises:Kane Williamson struggled with a hamstring strain against KKR, and will most likely have to stay out of the clash against RR. Given the pace assist in Dubai, Jason Holder could replace him, adding to their intermediate order and giving them a seventh bowling option if Samad is used.Vijay Shankar throws his four for the first time in the IPL for just 20 runs will give him already SRH some confidence for intermediates. Thampi went for runs in his first game this season, but SRH doesn’t have much reason to leave him out.
Probable XI:David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow (week), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson / Jason Holder, Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan, Basil Thampi
What they say:“I’ve been doing well, I didn’t score as many runs as I would have liked and helped the team win games. We started to play better in the last few games. We probably should have won the last three but we’ve only managed to win one of those, so we now have four games left, all of which are a must for us. We will have to win all of our games to have a chance of making the playoffs. Obviously there is a bit of a gap between the top 4 and us and we know the equation for ourselves So we move on to the next game hoping to get it right and hopefully win against the Sunrisers. ” – Jos Buttler.
Hyderabad sunrises Squad: Jonny Bairstow (w), Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, David Warner (c), Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan, Basil Thampi, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Mohammad Nabi, Shahbaz Nadeem, Jason Holder, Bavanaka Sandeep, Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, Virat Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Sanjay Yadav, Abhishek Sharma, Prithvi Raj Yarra
Royals of Rajasthan Squad: Ben Stokes, Robin Uthappa, Sanju Samson (w), Steven Smith (c), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Aaron, Jaydev Unadkat, David Miller, Aniruddha Joshi, Manan Vohra, Tom Curran, Andrew Tye, Shashank Singh, Mahipal Lomror, Oshane Thomas, Mayank Markande, Anuj Rawat, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Akash Singh
