Back to winning ways, Hyderabad takes on Rajasthan
DUBAI: Battered and bruised after a string of defeats, Rajasthan Royals (RR) would hope that the presence of Ben Stokes gets the adrenaline flowing as it seeks a revival of fortunes against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Sunday.
Rajasthan is struggling with two wins and four straight defeats, while Hyderabad has won three of its six games so far. RR will be relieved to have the services of Stokes, who completed his quarantine on Saturday. His absence in the early part of the competition has impacted the campaign of Royals, which is yet to find out its best playing eleven.
However, it is to be seen whether the 29-year-old, who has been out of action for some time now, is afforded the luxury of some practice or played straight up. Rajasthan, having lost its previous match to Delhi Capitals (DC) by a big margin of 46 runs, would look to stage a comeback versus Hyderabad.
An aggressive bowling display coupled with some good fielding saw it restrict Delhi to a decent total in a high-scoring Sharjah wicket. But, the batsmen, barring Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rahul Tewatia, struggled during the chase. The top guns – Jos Buttler, captain Steve Smith and Sanju Samson – would look to contribute with big scores. RR’s bowling is shouldered by pacer Jofra Archer as well as spinners Tewatia and Shreyas Gopal. With a slightly better season than its beleaguered opponent, Hyderabad got back to winning ways against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), thanks to impressive performances from openers Jonny Bairstow and David Warner as well as leggie Rashid Khan.
Bairstow has been in prime form and would hope to be at his explosive best again. His partner and skipper Warner would also aim to carry on with his good form. Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson will have key roles to play in the middle-order, while youngsters Priyam Garg, Abdul Samad and Abhishek Sharma will have to complement them well.
Despite losing spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh to injuries, SRH has shown tremendous fighting abilities with the ball, with Rashid and yorker specialist Thangarasu Natarajan dishing out splendid performances.