File photo of Rajasthan Royals skipper Steve Smith (left) with Sunrisers Hyderabad counterpart David Warner.
Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner has opted to bowl first after winning the toss against Steve Smith-led Rajasthan Royals in Match 40 of IPL 2020 in Dubai on Thursday. The SRH skipper brings in West Indian Jason Holder and extra spinner in Shahbaz Nadeem for the game. The players who didn't make it to the line-up are Kane Williamson and Basil Thampi.
Both the sides are in a tricky situation at the moment as they are dwelling in the bottom half of the league just ahead of last-placed Chennai Super Kings. RR (8 points in 10 games) must be feeling confident after picking a win against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last game while SRH (6 points in 9 games) come to Dubai with a three-match losing streak.
After winning the toss, Warner said: "We are gonna bowl. I don't think too much is going to change. The last game here, it held up a bit more in the first half of the game. It came on quite nice in the back end. We just have to wait and see. It's alright, we get another game today (when he was told that his team haven't been successful while chasing). He's (KW) done something to his quad, that's unfortunate. We have the big man Holder coming in. Nadeem is in for Thampi."
RR skipper Smith, on the other hand, said losing toss didn't affect them as they wanted to bat first while adding he is playing the same eleven from last game.
"I was looking to bat. We have been playing IPL for a long time. It was a good win the other night (against CSK). We are heading in the right direction, playing good cricket. You got to play well to make it to the finals and you need to peak at the right time. Will play the same team," he said.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): David Warner(c), Jonny Bairstow(w), Priyam Garg, Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan.
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Ben Stokes, Robin Uthappa, Sanju Samson(w), Steven Smith(c), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot, Kartik Tyagi.
