Both sides have faced each other nine times with SRH emerging as winners on five occasions.
After suffering defeats in their opening fixtures, both Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) will be looking to get their campaign on track when the face off at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on March 29.
The home side SRH were at the receiving end of Andre Russell's blitzkrieg at the Eden Gardens as Kolkata chased down their total of 181/3 with 6 wickets remaining. However, a big positive for them would be the form of former skipper David Warner who was making his return after a year-long ban due to the ball-tampering scandal. Warner scored 85 off 53 balls as he hit the blocks running and was well-supported in the later stages by Vijay Shankar who finished with an unbeaten 40 off 24.
Royals were cruising to victory in their opening fixture chasing 184 when Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) skipper R Ashwin 'Mankaded' Jos Buttler sparking controversy and an unfortunate batting collapse. Buttler was batting on 69 of 43 when he was dismissed and the remaining batsmen could only add 62 from the next 50 balls as the Royals fell short by 14 runs. RR will hope the likes of Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi and Jofra Archer are able to provide more support in their upcoming fixtures.
SRH will have to address their death bowling after conceding 53 from the final three overs against KKR to lose from a dominant position. However, Rashid Khan was impressive as usual conceding just 26 runs and dismissing the well-set Nitish Rana.
Jaydev Unadkat and Ben Stokes leaked runs against KXIP and they will have to be on top of their game against Warner and Bairstow. Archer, on the other hand, was unlucky to not pick up a wicket as he finished with an impressive economy of just 4.25 after his 4 overs.
Match Details:
Timing – 8 pm
Venue – Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Bengaluru.
Where to watch – Star Sports 1/1HD/1 Hindi/1HD Hindi/1 Tamil/1 Telugu/1 Kannada/1 Bangla/Select 1/Select 1HD
Head to head: Both sides have faced each other 9 times in the IPL with SRH emerging as winners on 5 occasions.
Team News:
There is no official confirmation on whether Kane Williamson will be deemed fit to participate after missing out on the first match due to injury.
Ashton Turner continues to be on tour with Australia and hence won’t feature for the Royals.
Prediction: who will win?
The match should be a closely fought encounter with both teams evenly balanced in terms of firepower. However, Rajasthan has lost their previous two fixtures at this venue and SRH will be favourites due to their home advantage.
Betting odds (Bet365):
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 4/6
Rajasthan Royals: 6/5
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium Pitch Report: The track at Hyderabad has always been a batting paradise and we should be in for another high-scoring encounter between the two teams.
