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Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are out of form, out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 playoffs contention and have nothing to lose. However, they can still ruin the chances of teams like Rajasthan Royals (RR) who are still in the playoffs chase.
With eight points in nine matches, RR are at sixth position in the points table. While SRH have managed only a single win in this season so far, their star opener David Warner has been struggling against pace bowling. Warner has scored 135 runs at a strike rate of 108.87 and has been dismissed five times by pacers. The move to make Kane Williamson the captain midway through the season hasn’t changed any fortunes for them either. Jason Holder and Rashid Khan have appeared as the only two positives in an otherwise struggling side. SRH's defeat to Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the last game was their fourth in a row this season.
RR, on the other hand, is having trouble regaining their rhythm. We watched how their hitters let the squad down in their previous game versus Delhi Capitals (DC). Other batsmen, with the exception of skipper Samson and Mahipal Lomror, were unable to reach double figures. Furthermore, RR have only taken 21 wickets in the middle overs this season, the fewest by any team so far.
Head to Head
RR and SRH have played 14 matches against each other, and the battles appear to be evenly matched, with both teams winning seven of them. However, Royals, defeated Sunrisers by a comfortable margin of 55 runs in their most recent meeting.
Injury updates and player availability
So far, there have been no injury updates. T Natarajan is out after testing for Covid-19 whereas Sherfane Rutherford has gone back to be with his family after his father passed away. On the other hand, we may see English opener Jason Roy making his SRH debut replacing Warner.
Battles to watch out for
Kane Williamson vs Chris Morris
The Blackcaps' skipper has had a tough outing against the proteas pacer Chris Morris who has dismissed him twice in T20 cricket. Williamson has scored only 22 runs against Morris with an ordinary strike rate of 104.76.
Sanju Samson vs Rashid Khan
RR skipper’s struggle against Rashid may give more headaches to the Royals. Even though Samson has scored 52 runs against Rashid but ended up consuming 59 deliveries which is a big reason for worry for the team if he does not target other bowlers. In addition to the strike rate issue, he has been dismissed once by Rashid as well. It will be interesting to see how Samson responds to Rashid's challenge today.
Sanju Samson vs Sandeep Sharma
RR skipper has been bothered by another SRH bowler. The 26-year-old has a strike rate of just over 96 and has scored 52 runs against Sharma. On the other hand, Sharma has dismissed him on couple of occasions. Even though Samson has scored 533 runs at a strike rate of 127.51 from 17 matches against SRH (third-most by any player against them), if RR's batting got exposed early, Williamson will rely on the seamer to replicate his success against the Royals’ skipper.
Predicted Playing XIs
SRH: Jason Roy, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Kane Williamson(c), Manish Pandey, Virat Singh, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed
RR: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Evin Lewis, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Liam Livingstone, Mahipal Lomror, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Kartik Tyagi, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman.
