The fourth match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 will be played between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) tomorrow i.e. April 2 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Being the first match of Sunday’s doubleheader, the aforementioned match will start at 3:30 PM IST.
After they won their first IPL championship in 2016, SRH have been one of the IPL’s most consistent teams. But, in 2021, dynamics changed, and they haven’t advanced to the playoffs since. For the Hyderabad-based team, the previous season was a complete failure. After six wins and eight losses throughout the league stage, they finished eighth on the points table. In 2022, they won five consecutive games and after that, they couldn’t continue their momentum to advance further.
Nevertheless, while their new captain Aiden Markram will not be leading SRH in their opening two games, Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be in charge. With 147 appearances in the IPL and a staggering 154 dismissals, Kumar has a wealth of expertise in the league.
On the other hand, RR had a respectable IPL season last year. RR advanced to the playoffs and even played in the final match against Gujarat Titans (GT), which ultimately didn’t work out for them. Sanju Samson, the captain of the Rajasthan-based team, had an outstanding IPL campaign in 2022 as a batsman and captain. Samson contributed several important runs for the franchise and the cricketer will now aim to start this season’s campaign off well.
SRH would be anticipating an improved season in IPL 2023 while Samson’s RR would prefer to emulate their performance or possibly look to go a step further.
Head-to-head:
In the 16 IPL games that Hyderabad and Rajasthan have faced off against one another, both have won eight matches each.
Where-to-watch:
TV: Star Sports Network
OTT: JioCinema