SRH's Martin Guptill and Royals' Ish Sodhi pose for a photograph.
Having lost their opening game against Kolkata after dominating most of the match, Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to come back strongly against Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal on Friday.
Both teams lost their opening games and what made matters worse was that just like SRH, the Royals too, were cruising till the 16th over of the chase before they lost the plot against Kings XI Punjab.
Even though KXIP skipper R. Ashwin's decision to ‘Mankad' RR batsman Jos Buttler shifted the focus from the game, what needs to be remembered is how the Royals' batsmen failed to score 39 runs in the last four overs -- a walk in the park in the T20 format -- when you have wickets in the bag.
Similarly, it was a game in the bag for SRH at the Eden Gardens after a brilliant display of batsmanship from former skipper David Warner on his return to the IPL. But the Sunrisers failed to defend 181 with Andre Russell (49* off 19) and Shubman Gill (18* off 10) taking the Knights home with two balls to spare.
Though what happened in the past must be kept aside and both teams need to look to start afresh. Having lost their first games, both teams will want to come back strongly and get their campaign back on track.
What to expect?
While the bowling is an area that SRH will look to correct, the Royals will want to ensure that they get their batting right. Over-dependence on Buttler or skipper Ajinkya Rahane will not help as in a format like T20, it is important that everyone looks to contribute their bit with bat or ball. All eyes will also be on SRH's regular skipper Kane Williamson and his recovery from injury. While he missed the first game and Bhuvneshwar Kumar led the team, the Kiwi is expected to be fit for their first home game.
The wicket at the Uppal stadium should be a belter as has been seen over the years and it should be a quality display of slam-bang action come Friday.
Probable Playing XIs for SRH v RR:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner, Kane Williamson (c), Vijay Shankar, Yusuf Pathan, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Shakib Al Hasan, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Steven Smith, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi, K Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Ish Sodhi, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni
(With IANS inputs)
