With the IPL now at the half-way mark, a lot will be riding on the game for both Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad when the two sides meet the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur on Sunday.
Since they got their stuttering campaign back on track with a last-gasp win over the Mumbai Indians, the Royals will have been out of action for exactly a week come Sunday.
On the other hand, Kane Williamson’s Hyderabad will be playing their third match in the same time-frame and are on an impressive run with two top-notch victories under their belts.
TALKING POINTS
FORTRESS JAIPUR TO THE FORE
Such has been the Royals’ dominance at Jaipur that their seven-wicket loss to Kolkata Knight Riders earlier this season seems like an aberration. Just when it looked like they would lose two matches on the bounce at home, Krishnappa Gowtham turned the game against Mumbai on its head with a stunning cameo.
That means that the Royals have now won 10 of their last 11 games at ‘fortress Jaipur’ and as such, the Sunrisers will have their task cut out despite their red-hot form at the moment.
SUNRISERS’ BOWLING A CLASS APART
In their last matches, the Sunrisers bowling unit has had paltry scores of 118 and 132 to defend. They have managed to do both with gusto, recording a 31-run win in the former and a 13-run victory in the latter. What is even more impressive is that they have done both despite the injury-related absence of pace spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
While Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan has been the indisputable star in these wins, the likes of Sandeep Sharma, Siddharth Kaul, Shakib Al Hasan and Basil Thampi have all made equally valuable contributions as Hyderabad’s bowlers continue to develop a fearsome reputation.
PLAYERS IN FOCUS
Having started the season on fire with the bat, young Sanju Samson endured a lean patch before bouncing back into form with a half-century against Mumbai. The Kerala man has been the most consistent batsman for the hosts and he will be key once again for them on Sunday against a world-class Hyderabad bowling attack.
Meawhile, Rashid has turned it around splendidly since being taken for some runs with two match-winning spells of 3-19 and 2-11 in his last couple of outings to strike the fear back into the minds of the batsmen. He is looking like the star man for the franchise currently and all eyes will once again be on him on Sunday.
LIKELY LINE-UPS
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Jofra Archerk, K Gowtham, Jaydev Unadkat, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Basil Thampi, Sidharth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma.