IPL 2020 Match Preview RR vs SRH: Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad look to keep playoffs hopes alive

Image courtesy: BCCI, iplt20.com

Eleven days ago when the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) met for the first time in the 2020 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), they were separated by just one win. But their standing on points table was completely different.

While SRH, with three wins, featured among the top-three, RR were slogging with the bottom three after with just two wins. Not much has changed since, except for the fact that RR now have one more win than SRH. Yet, both will find themselves languishing in the bottom-half of the table when they meet again on October 22 at the Dubai International Stadium in the reverse fixture.

Both sides can only afford one loss (SRH need at least four wins in their last five games, while RR need three from their remaining four) if they want to keep their playoffs hopes alive. Both teams will certainly not expect a loss against each other as they are struggling to find consistency.

Similar batting order conundrums

Steven Smith and Ben Stokes have opened the batting for the Royals without much success. But they have also under-utilized seasoned opener Robin Uthappa’s vast experience at the top.

Batting conundrums for both teams is such that Jos Buttler is batting in the middle order for RR and David Warner has also been shifted to the middle order for the Sunrisers. Kane Willamson opened the batting for SRH in their last game, but if he is not fit to play against RR due to an injury, then there could be another opener.

Underwhelming performance by Indian players

SRH would be disappointed with Manish Pandey (he had played exceptionally well for India in T20 format of late), Vijay Shankar (who played the 2019 World Cup), Priyam Garg (he has scored only 55 runs in six innings after a superb fifty against Chennai), Abhishek Sharma (only one good knock so far) and Abdul Samad (some fine cameos) who were all big hopes from India.

Similarly, the Royals would have reasons to be upset with the repeated failures of Jaydev Unadkat, Ankit Rajput, Sanju Samson (first two sensational fifties were followed by just 77 runs in eight innings) and Riyan Parag (just one performance to show). It’s high time for several players from both teams to stand up and be counted in this important game.

Also read: Rajasthan Royals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad: Fantasy team picks for the match

Likely XIs:

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Ben Stokes, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Sanju Samson (WK), 4 Steven Smith (Captain), 5 Jos Buttler, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Riyan Parag, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Shreyas Gopal, 10 Ankit Rajpoot and 11 Kartik Tyagi.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 David Warner (Captain), 2 Jonny Bairstow (WK), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Mohammad Nabi, 5 Priyam Garg, 6 Vijay Shankar, 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Sandeep Sharma, 10 Basil Thampi and 11 T Natarajan.

Vimal Kumar has covered multiple cricket world cups and the Rio Olympics in the last two decades. The author of 'Sachin: Cricketer Of The Century' and 'The Cricket Fanatic’s Essential Guide' can be reached at @Vimalwa on Twitter.

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