SRH wants to establish control over high rollers.

In the Indian Premier League, mistakes are a typical occurrence. The Rajasthan Royals are well grasp of this having blown a great opportunity to qualify for the playoffs the season before. Before faltering in the latter stages of the competition in 2023 they had won five of their previous eight games. However, they are riding high in 2024 after learning their lessons, having won eight of their last nine games, and they have a foot in the postseason. On Thursday, they will go up against opponents who are in a boat that RR was in the previous season.

With five victories in seven games, Sunrisers Hyderabad, who have established a new standard for T20 cricket batting, were looking strong. However, a string of defeats to Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, both by large percentages and while trailing, have unsettled their stable situation. They also intend to stay out of the same predicament that the Rajasthan Royals encountered the previous year.

The Sunrisers have had difficulty gaining ground when the opening pair of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma hasn’t performed well. This is because they are accustomed to their flashy starts. This, combined with Heinrich Klaasen’s poor performance in the past few games and Aiden Markram’s lack of form, have shown some weaknesses in SRH’s batting armor as they have failed miserably in their last two 200-plus run chases. To make matters worse for SRH, skipper Pat Cummins has also been costly in his last two games, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar has not been effective enough. They have to step it up since the competition is about to get competitive, and the other teams are trying to catch up.

The Royals have been having a great season, with one loss in between four straight victories on either side. Sanju Samson the captain has been producing always with the bat, earning him a position in the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup. Their openers have struck hundreds of runs while Dhruv Jurel has also reborn form, reaching a half-century in their victory over Lucknow Super Giants. Sandeep Sharma has been the most effective bowler in the last few games, but all of the bowlers have been solid. If anything, they would be hoping that Yuzvendra Chahal who was also selected for the T20 World Cup picks up a few wickets to help the legspinner rebuild confidence after a few pricey outings.

When: Thursday May 2 at 19:30 IST

Where: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad

What to expect: At the end of March, Hyderabad hosted its first game of the season. The hosts scored a huge 277 and gave the Mumbai Indians a fright before winning with 246. Early in April, SRH played CSK, and the visiting team scored 165, which SRH chased down in 18.1 overs. In the final match played here, SRH ended up with 171 after getting caught trying to chase 206. This season, it has mostly been hitters against batters, and Hyderabad is a location that has encouraged this pattern. However, the spinners have received some assistance in the most recent games played here, which may allow players like Chahal and R Ashwin to play.

Head to head: 9 – 9

Teams watch

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Injury/Availability: As of right now, SRH is not concerned about any injuries.

Strategies & Matchups: Bhuvneshwar has a strong record against Jos Buttler in T20 cricket, having dismissed him six times in 91 deliveries, despite his poor performance in this IPL. Samson has also been dismissed three times by Bhuvneshwar in the IPL, and SRH will rely on the seasoned pacer to contain the RR top order. With two wickets in 15 deliveries against Riyan Parag, left-arm seamer T Nararajan is a solid choice.

The probable starting eleven are: Pat Cummins (c), Abdul Samad, Abdul Reddy, Travis Head, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Nitish Reddy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, and T Natarajan. [Anmolpreet Singh/Mayank Markande, Impact sub]

Rajasthan Royals

Injury/Availability: No reported fitness concerns in the RR camp.

Tactics & Matchups: Although he has dismissed him three times in T20 cricket, RR will be wary of using Chahal against Klaasen as the batter has struck 93 runs at a strike rate of 226.82 off the legspinner. Meanwhile, they could look to target Travis Head with spin, although that would be a gamble considering there will be Abhishek at the other end who is known to take apart the spinners. An over of Sandeep, with his change of pace, could be productive early on.

Probable XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal. [Impact sub: Rovman Powell]

Did you know?

– In this IPL, the Rajasthan Royals have triumphed in six of the last seven chases. When they were batting first against Gujarat Titans, they just suffered a loss. Out of their five games played when batting first, Sunrisers Hyderabad has only lost one. They were likewise defeated by the Titans.

Sanju Samson leads all batters from both sides in the IPL in Hyderabad with an average of 71.75. Only Klaasen’s 351 runs at an average of 58.5 and a strike rate of 191.8 are higher than his 287 runs at a strike rate of 147.17.

Sanju Samson is the player with the highest run total against Sunrisers Hyderabad having mixed 791 runs at an average of 49.43 in 21 innings. After 23 innings Virat Kohli is in second place with 762 runs versus SRH.

What they said:

“To be honest, I don’t think there are that many bowling options available to us.. It’s not Test cricket, when there’s a lot of movement in the wickets, sideways movement, or swinging of the ball. Usually, trying to defend is the greatest method to gain a wicket. In the eighth over, batters are becoming more and more confident in their ability to hit the ball out of the stadium. The only difficulty is as bowlers, but if we do have a high total like we have had—270, 260—you feel like you can have a significant influence as a bowler by going for nine an over, which has the potential to win a match,” said SRH captain Pat Cummins.