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Rajasthan Royals will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday, May 2.
Two former champions of the Indian Premier League are currently struggling in this edition of the tournament. Two teams are languished at the bottom of the table, with RR holding seventh place while SRH at the last position. The rivalry between these two teams have always been competitive. They have faced each other on 13 occasions, with SRH holding a slight edge by seven wins to RR’s six.
Rajasthan Royals have had a painful season so far from all corners. They have played six games so far and have only been able to win two of those. It looked like they were finally getting back to winning ways after a win against Kolkata Knight Riders, but they ran into Mumbai Indians, who beat them comprehensively by seven wickets.
Batting first, Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal gave RR a flying start against MI. RR were in a very strong position at the halfway point where posting 200 on the board looked quite possible. But things started falling off as their middle order couldn’t get off the blocks quickly. Shivam Dube’s knock of 31-ball-35 sucked the momentum out of RR innings. At the back end of the innings, Jasprit Bumrah’s brilliance proved to be too much for RR batters as they could only post 171.
Defending what looked like a decent total, RR were able to dismiss MI’s batter of the season, Rohit Sharma cheaply, courtesy of Chris Morris. But they could not contain Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav. After Yadav’s soft dismissal, RR failed to put any pressure on Krunal Pandya, who walked in at number 4 for MI. When Mustafizur Rahman dismissed Krunal, it was too late for RR. Morris was their pick of the bowler with 2 for 33 in four.
Sunrisers Hyderabad are having their worst season since their inception. They have played six matches so far and have lost five of them. In their last game, SRH succumbed to a 7-wicket loss against CSK. David Warner played arguably his worst T20 knock of 55-ball-57, where he struggled badly to time the ball and was visibly frustrated. Manish Pandey returned back with a 46-ball-61 knock. Kane Williamson and Kedar Jadhav’s late blitz helped them get to a decent total of 171.
SRH bowlers could not put breaks on CSK’s blistering start as CSK openers put on a 129-run stand. Rashid Khan was the only bowler who put up a fight, picking up 3 wickets. SRH management needs to address some serious issues.
Key Players
Jos Buttler is one of the best white-ball batters in the world and has made a reputation as one of the best T20 openers. However, he has had a torrid time with the bat this season by his standards. He has so far scored 130 runs in 6 matches at an average and strike-rate of 21.7 and 127.5, respectively. Buttler has an added responsibility on him with key players out of the tournament. The English batter scored 41 runs against Mumbai Indians with 3 sixes in the last game.
Sanju Samson, the Royals skipper, has batted with immense composure off late. Samson has been RR’s best batter in IPL 2021 with 229 runs to his name at an average of 45.8 and he has struck at a very healthy rate of 145.9. He scored a spectacular century in the first game against Punjab Kings. He also scored a quick-fire knock of 27-ball-42 against MI in the last match. He’ll once again be looking to lead the side from the front.
Jonny Bairstow is another English batter who just loves to take the attack to the opposition. Jonny Bairstow is one of the most destructive batters in the game. After his promotion to the top of the order this season, Bairstow has annihilated bowling attacks for fun. In IPL 2021, he has scored 218 runs at an average of 43.6 and with a brisk rate of 141.6. Bairstow missed out cheaply in the last game against CSK and would be etching to make up for it.
Rashid Khan is probably the most bankable T20 player in the world right now. His sheer ability to turn the matches on its head makes him incredibly valuable. The Afghanistan leggie has powered SRH to countless victories with his tight match-defining spells. In IPL 2021, he has picked 9 wickets in six games at an economy of 6.17 and has struck in every 16 deliveries. Rashid also has an outstanding record against RR batters and would love to impose himself straightaway.
Prediction
The two teams have enjoyed a closely fought rivalry amongst themselves. Last year, both the teams had shared the honours, with each team claiming one win. Both RR and SRH have been marred by the unavailability of their key players.
RR have lost the services of four of their overseas recruits in Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Liam Livingstone and Andrew Tye. Rajasthan Royals are in a rut, and they will need their top players to put on a display. A complete team performance could lift them up and get their campaign running.
SRH, on the other hand, have lost T Natarajan due to injury, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar has also suffered an injury. However, SRH are slightly in better shape than RR, and they match well against them. Sunrisers Hyderabad will be heading into the match as slight favourites.
