IPL 2018: Match 4, SRH vs RR, Preview: Royals eye CSKesque comeback against Warner-less Sunrisers

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) are all set to lock horns in the fourth match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Monday. Both the teams were dealt with a severe blow as their respective captains David Warner and Steve Smith were ruled out of the tournament following the ban imposed on them by Cricket Australia (CA). While both the franchises have stressed that they won’t be missing their best players during the season, only time will tell if it was really a dent to their fortunes in the cash-rich league.

Kane Williamson has been tipped by the franchise to lead the team this year and though he is not as expressive as Warner, the Kiwi player is an exceptional leader. They will have to put all the thoughts behind and prove to the world that they were never so much dependent on the Australian cricketer. The franchise has some exciting players this time who are capable of repeating the heroics of 2016. But for that to happen their top international players should step up to the task big time this year.

Their opponents Rajasthan Royals would not miss so much Smith so much as the batsman though as their squad is covered with all the bases. Moreover, his replacement, Heinrich Klaasen is capable of turning any game on its head on any given day. All eyes will be on Ajinkya Rahane who is as calm as cool ice and has been handed a job to lead the likes of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler. They are the strongest side on paper but it will be interesting to see the way they fare on the field.

Toss: SRH won the toss and opted to field

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson(c), Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Billy Stanlake, Siddarth Kaul

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane(c), D Arcy Short, Sanju Samson(w), Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi, Jos Buttler, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Ben Laughlin

Update: Jofra Archer still recovering from side strain

How will the pitch play?

Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium is known to dish out flat tracks historically. Expect yet another similar surface as the explosive batsmen would love to go bonkers from the word go. The highest score at the venue in the IPL is 223  even as 217 has been successfully chased down. The game will surely be a treat for the crowd but the teams should be stacked with spin bowlers as the pitch might get slow in the later half of the game.

Playing Combination

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Shikhar Dhawan and Alex Hales will undoubtedly open the innings as the latter will have to play the role which Warner played for the side. Shakib Al Hasan, Rashid Khan and skipper Kane Williamson should be their other overseas players in the playing XI. Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan should give solidity to the middle order as Wriddhiman Saha can be used as a floater given his skills to tonk the ball.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the bowling attack along with the young Siddarth Kaul and Sandeep Sharma. The team looks solid enough to come up trumps on most of the occasions.

Rajasthan Royals

D’Arcy Short has done enough in the Big Bash League (BBL) to seal his place at the top for Royals along with Rahul Tripathi who played extremely well last year. Their other foreign players would be Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer who can win games single-handedly on their day. Rahane will be having a lot of options up his sleeve as far as the bowling is concerned. Though the new ball should be taken by Dhawal Kulkarni and Jaydev Unadkat.

Focus will be on

Kane Williamson (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

The captain of SRH Kane Williamson is not new to the job of leading the team as the biggest challenge would be score runs with the bat. He is most likely to open the innings, the position which suits him very well. It will be important for him to stay in form throughout the tournament as he is occupying the spot of an overseas player being the leader of the side. What better than beginning strongly in the first game itself?

Ajinkya Rahane (Rajasthan Royals)

Ajinkya Rahane is similar to his counterpart but has far lesser experience of being at the helm. He is a classy batsman and nobody must be doubting that fact. His main challenge would be handling the international stars in the absence of Smith. Royals have the capability to go all the way with the team they possess but will have to perform on the field in order for the results to follow. Rahane’s form with the bat will only help their cause big time.

Head to Head

Played- 7, Rajasthan Royals- 4, Sunrisers Hyderabad- 3, NR/Tie- 0

Stat Attack

16.72 – Ajinkya Rahane’s batting average of 16.72 against Sunrisers Hyderabad is his lowest against any opponent in the Twenty20 format.

3980 – Runs Shakib Al Hasan scored in his Twenty20 career so far. He needs to score 20 more runs for completing 4000 T20 runs.

Broadcast Details

TV– Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Jalsha (Bengali), Star Maa Movies (Telegu), Star Sports Tamil

Online– Hotstar & YuppTv

Match Timings: 20:00 IST, 14:30 GMT

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