Dominant SRH face buoyant Rajasthan

JAIPUR: At the start of the 2018 Indian Premier League, teams fancied chasing totals. However, Sunrisers Hyderabad has changed that perspective in the last two games, putting up a stellar performance with the ball. By defending totals of 118 and 132 against Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab, Kane Williamson’s side is high on confidence due to the bowlers.

But Rajasthan Royals are fresh and high on confidence. Following their morale-boosting win over Mumbai Indians that snapped their two-game losing streak, the team will be keen to avoid a slip-up.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has not played the previous two games due to a back injury but such has been the depth of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s bowling that the team’s spearhead has not been missed. In the nets session, Bhuvneshwar had a bowl but did not stretch himself too much.

In the pre-match press conference, Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody said Bhuvneshwar was intentionally given time to Total matches

Shikhar Dhawan is the only player to represent Sunrisers Hyderabad in 75 IPL matches.

Sanju Samson who scored 988 runs in 40 innings of 44 matches, needs 12 runs to become the fifth batsman to score over 1000 runs for Rajasthan Royals in IPL.

recover. Their depth in bowling, however, is not reflected in the team’s batting. Kane Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan have not been consistent at the top and it has required a special effort from Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan and Deepak Hooda to bail the team out of trouble.

On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals is ready to tackle their key bowlers. “We have to look at the way the other team’s played the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers but we are ready for the contest,” Krishnappa Gowtham stressed.