The Fortieth match of the tournament will be played between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Rajasthan Royals. Currently, in the IPL table, RR is placed at number 6th position while SRH is placed at number 7th. If RR manages to defeat SRH they might replace KKR at the fourth position and if SRH defeats RR they would replace KXIP at the 5th position.
Head to Head
Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have played 12 matches against each other.
SRH and RR have won 6 games each which makes this contest an even one.
In the last four meetings between them, SRH have won 3 matches while RR have won 2.
In the first leg match between the two, RR defeated SRH by five wickets.
Squads
Top Players of SRH & RR
SRH:
D Warner: Warner started with small knocks initially, now after Nine matches, he has two 50's, five 30+ scores. He came down the batting order against KKR in the previous match, he might continue batting lower down the order in today's match as well. Against RR before 2020, he has played ten innings; in which he has scored 337 runs at an average of 33.70 and a strike rate of 125.27, his highest score being 77. In the first leg match against RR, he had scored 48 runs off 38 balls.
S Sharma: In the absence of Bhuvi he has done a decent job, he hasn't picked up a lot of wickets but he has kept things tight in the powerplay. RR's top four batsmen are their main strength if he can pick a wicket or two early in the innings RR will go on the back foot immediately.
R Khan: R Khan has been stupendous again this year, apart from the first few matches he has bowled extremely well. Overall, this year he has picked up 11 wickets at an average of 18.09 and an economy rate of 5.52. Now that S Smith has decided to play lower down the order, R Khan vs S Smith should be an exciting dual to watch.
M Pandey: He was the top scorer against RR in the first leg match and is expected to do well in today's match as well. It would be interesting to see where he bats in the batting lineup. He should be ideally be playing at number 3 position for SRH.
J Bairstow: He played a decent knock against KKR and looks to be in good touch. He didn't score much against RR in the first leg match but I personally believe he could play a big role in today's match.
RR:
S Smith: He has now looked good in two back to back matches, after the initial heroics he had a batting lull in the 6 matches to follow but now he looks good again. In the first leg match against SRH he had batted at number 3 position, in today's match he is most likely going to play at number 4 position to try and nullify R Khan in the middle overs.
J Archer: He has been exceptional with the bowl for RR this season. He has picked up 13 wickets at an excellent economy of 6.75 this year, he surely will play a big role in today's match either with the bat or the ball.
S Samson: Cricket is a very funny sport at times, the man who looked impervious in the first two matches doesn't even look like a shadow of that player in the matches that followed. Although he has a great record against SRH; he failed to impress in the first leg match between them. Against them up until last year, he has scored 423 runs at an average of 42.30 at a strike rate of 126.64.
J Buttler: He seems to have some association with the number 70, he now has scored 70 not out in two matches. He was the player of the match in the previous game and RR finally seems to have a settled batting order with J Buttler and D Warner both batting down the order.
Likely Playing 11
SRH:
David Warner (C), Jonny Bairstow (WK), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, P Garg, Vijay Shankar, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan, B Thampi.
RR:
Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson (WK), Steven Smith (C), Jos Buttler, R Parag, Rahul Tewatia, J Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot, Kartik Tyagi.
Other players who can make an impact
R Tewatia (RR) / R Parag (RR): Both these players turned the match on its head against SRH last time around and that would give both these players confidence before they step on the field in today's match.
B Stokes (RR): We all know how dangerous B Stokes can be with the bat, he would be the player to watch in today's match as well.
K Williamson/ M Nabi (SRH): Either one of the two players would play the game and whichever player plays would make this list of players to watch from SRH.
To conclude, It is extremely difficult to choose a team over another. This match has all the ingredients to be a nail-biter.