The battle between the Sunrisers and Rajasthan has been neck-and-neck with the Orange Army only narrowly standing ahead in the rivalry with six wins in 11 encounters.
After losing four successive matches, the Rajasthan Royals face a must-win clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday. The RR are at seventh position with only four points from six games.
The SRH, meanwhile, have a chance to climb to third position with a victory today and continue to pose contention for a place in the playoff stages of the tournament.
As both the sides meet for the game, let's take a look at some of the key stats:
Head-to-head tie: The battle between the Sunrisers and Rajasthan has been neck-to-neck with the Orange Army only narrowly standing ahead in the rivalry with six wins in 11 encounters, three of which came in four matches since the Royals made their IPL return in 2018. However, Rajasthan had defeated Sunrisers in their only previous meeting in the UAE, winning by four wickets in Abu Dhabi.
At the venue: Rajastan had won all the three matches at the venue in 2014, but lost both the matches this season in Abu Dhabi. SRH, on the other hand, are 1-2 at the venue.
Crucial stats:
- Time for another Archer vs Warner? In the recent limited-overs series in England, Archer dismissed him four times across the two formats with the Aussie scoring 40 off 48 deliveries.
- Jos Buttler has always been vulnerable to leg-spinners and particularly weak against Rashid Khan who has dismissed him four times in 10 balls with him scoring just four runs.
- SRH have tweaked their role for Jonny Bairstow and David Warner. Given Bairstow's form, 241 runs at 40.16 and strike rate of 138.50, he has been the enforcer for SRH with Warner, usually the aggressor, has fallen anchor. This has served well for SRH who have lost just four wickets this season in the powerplay, the least by any team. The team have however suffered in the slog overs, scoring at 8.76 runs per over.
- Archer has the best economy rate in the powerplays this season with a figure of 6.90.
