Rajasthan Royals will lock horns against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 45th match of Vivo IPL 12 in a few minutes time from now. While Rajasthan Royals are on the verge of bowing out of the tournament, Sunrisers Hyderabad also faces a daunting task after winning 5 out of their 10 matches. Rajasthan Royals managed to keep their slim chances in the tournament alive with their hard-fought victory against the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, will look to win this clash which will make their qualification process a bit easier for the rest of the tournament. The absence of Jonny Bairstow will be a serious concern for Sunrisers Hyderabad as he has been the 2nd leading run scorer in the tournament behind his batting partner David Warner.
Meanwhile, RR will also miss the services of Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer who has left for England owing to international commitments and to gear up for the 2019 World Cup. It will be a must-win clash for Rajasthan as they have already lost 7 clashes in the tourney. The importance of spinners has been evident in the tournament and Shreyas Gopal, the leggie has done a terrific job for his franchise.
The middle order for Hyderabad has been untested. However, Manish Pandey’s return to form will be good signs for SRH as he is a terrific batsman and can take the match away from the opposition within a blink of an eye. Hence when the two teams take on each other in a few minutes time, we might be in for a really exciting clash.
Toss:
Here is what the captains said:
Steve Smith:
We are going to bowl. It looks similar to the wicket we played on against Delhi. Probably a fraction slower. We just have those two changes – Livingstone and Turner come in. Hopefully, we can put on a show for the home fans.
Kane Williamson:
Yeah, first look (at the surface). We were going to do something similar. Obviously, there is a dew factor. The surfaces in the T20 game don’t change too much. That is an element (average score is 160 because of the dew), there are so many variables that is hard to call. It is a fresh game, both teams looking to getting involved and both teams looking for those two points.
Playing XI of both the teams:
Rajasthan Royals:
(Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson(w), Steven Smith(c), Riyan Parag, Ashton Turner, Liam Livingstone, Stuart Binny, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aaron, Oshane Thomas
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
David Warner, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Shakib Al Hasan, Wriddhiman Saha, Deepak Hooda, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddharth Kaul