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IPL 2021: Do or Die clash between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad will lock horns in a must-win game in IPL 2021 on Sunday. Both the teams are at the bottom of the table and will look to register a win in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Consistency with bat and ball has been missing for Rajasthan Royals. Even though they are missing few key players, some of the star players have not turned up for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2021. Currently, they are one spot shy of the last position in the table. A defeat against SRH may bring Rajasthan to that position. Rajasthan Royals now need to win at least five of their remaining eight matches to have any shot at qualification. They need their batsmen to fire, which hasn’t been the case so far. The good thing for them is that Jos Buttler finally looked in some form in the last match, but apart from him and skipper Sanju Samson, their batting has lacked spark.

Rajasthan Royals’ bowling has been a story of a tale of inconsistency. On a surface that will not be easy to bowl at, the Royals might consider making a couple of changes to their bowling unit and so they might pull in Shreyas Gopal to come into the playing eleven.

Sunrisers have endured a torrid season until now. Sunday will be the first game for SRH with Kane Williamson as captain in IPL 2021. The franchise decided to sack David Warner as captain after inconsistent performances this season. Warner may make way for Jason Roy in the starting lineup against Rajasthan Royals.

The Indian players from Sunrisers Hyderabad have not performed and will need to step up. Their batting has looked rather cautious whereas the bowling has looked over-reliant on a couple of players. Not surprisingly, the results and their position on the points table just verifies that. As it stands, the Sunrisers Hyderabad are placed at the bottom of the points table and will need a miraculous run from now until the end of the group stages to qualify for the playoffs.

SRH’s bowlers have so far struggled to pick wickets in the powerplay, and the absence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar has only added to their concerns. Barring Rashid Khan, none of their bowlers has looked threatening at any stage of the game.

Head to Head

Rajasthan and Sunrisers have faced each other a total of 13 times where Sunrisers have won Seven times.

Pitch Report

Delhi till now has proved to be a decent track to bat on this tournament but it won’t be a surprise if the pitch is on the slower side as Delhi is known for slower tracks. Turn will be expected and due won’t play a part as it is a day game. Batting first will be a better option as the pitch may get slower with the progression of the game.

Team News

Rajasthan Royals have no fresh injury concerns going into the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Meanwhile, Sunrisers Hyderabad will be still without Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Abdul Samad for this game due to injuries. David Warner might be dropped after Kane Williamson was appointed as the new skipper for the rest of IPL 2021.

Predicted Teams

Sunrisers Hyderabad – Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Kedar Jadhav, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed

Rajasthan Royals – Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, David Miller, Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Jaydev Unadkat, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman

Key Battles

Sanju Samson vs Rashid Khan: It is one of the most even contests of the game as Sanju Samson has only got out once against Rashid Khan in IPL history, but he has not scored freely as his strike rate against Rashid is less than 100. The approach of Samson against Rashid Khan will decide how the flow of runs is maintained in middle overs.

Jonny Bairstow vs Chetan Sakariya: Early wicket of Jonny Bairstow will be very crucial for Rajasthan Royals. If Rajasthan can get the ball to move in the powerplay by giving the new ball to Chetan Sakariya, then the English batsman can be troubled. The winner of this battle will set the tone of the game for their respective teams.

 

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