IPL 2023 MATCH PREVIEW: RR v SRH

Despite being touted as the strongest side on paper, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have endured a disappointing first half. The team boasted an explosive batting lineup and a formidable bowling attack that covered all bases, leaving talented players like Akeal Hossein, Kartik Tyagi and Glenn Philips on the bench due to the abundance of options. However, the much-hyped Harry Brook failed to live up to expectations, has managed just 63 runs apart from that 100 at Eden and Abhishek Sharma missing games didn’t help either. Adding to their woes, Mayank Agarwal has been a consistent disappointment, averaging a paltry 18 after playing over 90 innings, if we exclude the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The team's struggles suggest that paper strengths alone are not enough to guarantee success in the fiercely competitive world of IPL.
They have been tactically poor as well. For eg, against Lucknow by promoting Sundar ahead of Klassen and not naming Akeal Hossein in the subs. It was a tailor made pitch for the one of the best finger spinners in the world.
It would be intriguing to witness the forthcoming changes in the 11. Just as Sundar seemed to regain his form, he unfortunately suffered a hamstring injury and had to withdraw from the tournament. Additionally, it seems that Phillips, who was among the top batters in the T20 World Cup and has an impressive T20I strike rate of 144, is too valuable to be left on the bench. Consequently, replacing the struggling Brooks with Phillips could be the ideal decision, given that the latter excels in playing spin.

RR initiated their campaign impressively, securing victories in four out of their first five games, and they could have won against Punjab if their batting order was well-managed. However, their performance has been dismal in recent times, with only one win in the last four games. It is crucial that they include Obed McCoy in their playing eleven, considering his outstanding performance as a death bowler last season, replacing Holder, who has been unproductive with both bat and ball. Buttler's form has been subpar, struggling to perform after a strong start to the season, and Hetmyer has contributed little, promising innings in almost every game till the chase against GT.

Probable Playing XIs

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Glenn Philips, Heinrich Klassen, Abdul Samad, Marco Jansen, Mayank Markande, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Kartik Tyagi, T Natarajan ( sub )

Rajasthan Royals

Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Paddikal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jason Holder, Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal

Points Table

SRH: 10th

RR: 4th

Team Form

RR: W L W W W L L W L L
SRH: L L W W L L L W L

Venue

Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

-Average Total batting 1st: 158.5
-Average 1st innings winning total: 175.8

-Highest total: 202 by RR vs CSK, 2023
-Lowest total: 92 by MI vs RR, 2013

-Total Match Played: 50
-Batting First Won: 17
-Batting Second Won: 33

Head to Head

Overall: RR leads by 9-8

Batting 1st: SRH leads by 4-3

Batting 2nd: RR leads by 6-4

Last 5 matches: RR leads by 3-2

Most runs: Sanju Samson - 622

Ajinkya Rahane - 347

Most wkts: James Faulkner - 12

Bhuvaneshwar Kumar - 11

Match Ups

Sanju vs Bhuvi: 116 of 87, 3 out

Jos vs Bhuvi 88 off 82, 5 out

Mayank v Chahal: 75 off 51, 7 out

Mayank v Ashwin: 71 off 43, 3 out

Mayank v Sandeep: 47 off 43, 3 out

Klaasen v Chahal: 83 off 37, 2 out

Key Players and Fantasy Picks

Jos Buttler

A top order batsman should be your blind pick. Buttler who won the prestigious Orange Cap award last season, recorded an impressive strike rate of 149 and scored 863 runs, including four centuries. He has been in exceptional form since the 2021 World Cup, where he smashed a century against Sri Lanka, and continued to perform well against Australia prior to the 2022 World Cup. In the semi-finals, he dominated India. In IPL he has outscored all other players with a superior strike rate in powerplay overs since 2018. He started his season with a rapid 20-odd ball 50 and a 79 off just 51 balls in the subsequent games. He also contributed 52 runs in the match against CSK. But since then his form has just disappeared and has hardly managed 100 runs at a run a ball strike rate. Today might be the day he discovers his mojo back

Yashasvi Jaiswal

Arguably the best opener of this season. He has amassed 442 runs at a whooping SR of 158. He broke the record of HS by an uncapped player in the last match against MI

Sanju Samson

Among batters who have scored a minimum of 800 runs since 2021, Samson is the only other player besides Tripathi to boast a strike rate of over 140. However, Samson tends to have a pattern of starting the season off strong, only to lose his momentum along the way. This trend has continued this year, with Samson following the same pattern as before

Trent Boult:

Since 2020, no other bowler has claimed more wickets than Boult during the powerplay overs. He closed the game in Powerplay itself when these 2 sides met earlier in the tournament

Hetmyer :

Hetmyer has proven to be an outstanding "Finisher," exceeding expectations in this role. In fact, since 2021, no other player has scored more runs and hit more sixes than him during the death overs, all while maintaining an exceptional strike rate. Despite the high rate of failure that often comes with this position, Hetmyer has consistently contributed crucial scores in the range of 30s and 40s, further solidifying his value as a reliable player. Similar to Buttler, he has not contributed in the last 3-4 games after that memorable chase against GT

Aiden Markram

He led the Sunrisers team to victory in SA 20 as captain. During the last few months, he had been in exceptional form with 100s in all three formats and a SR of 150 for his national team. Additionally, he is an adept off-spinner. He scored 381 runs for the Sunrisers last year at 140 runs per over in 12 innings. But this year he has looked a pale shadow of himself and is yet to fire. Last game he won the game changer award ( most points in fantasy XI ) but couldn’t take SRH over the finishing line

Heinrich Klaseen

There are no two ways about it; he has been SRH’s best batter this season with 189 runs from 6 innings at a SR in excess of 180. He plays spin exceptionally well and is SRH’s best bet to counter RR’s spin duo of Ashwin and Chahal.

Fantasy XI