A well-balanced squad at their disposal, Rajasthan Royals would look to recreate this year the identical magic which noticed them emerge second greatest in IPL 2022, as they tackle Sunrisers Hyderabad of their marketing campaign opener in Hyderabad on April 2, 2023.
The Royals, led by Sanju Samson, are a facet overflowing with performers, with each the purple cap (highest wicket-taker) and orange cap (highest run-getter) being cornered by their gamers — Yuzvendra Chahal and Jos Buttler — last season.
Over the years, the Royals have constructed the popularity of being gritty opponents that don’t give up an inch of their territory.
With the likes of two of India’s greatest spinners in Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin in addition to Australian tweaker Adam Zampa within the facet, the 2008 IPL winners have maybe the very best sluggish bowlers within the league.
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s batting could have to guard against the wily leg-spinner Chahal, who had emerged the very best wicket-take in IPL 2022 with 27 scalps.
Ashwin, then again, could be buoyed by his exhibiting within the latest Border-Gavaskar Test sequence, the place he grabbed 25 wickets in eight innings, although he’s on to a special format.
If their spin-bowling division is the envy of each different facet within the IPL, Royals’ batting, led by Buttler, can provide any franchise a fancy, given the way in which the England stalwart went about decimating each bowling assault last year to accumulate a thoughts boggling 863 runs.
With England’s top-order batter Joe Root too part of their squad, together with skipper Samson and pinch-hitters Shimron Hetmyer and Jason Holder, Royals’ batting too wears a near-invincible look.
SRH, then again, nonetheless seem like a facet attempting to discover their toes after debacles within the two earlier editions of the IPL. While they completed eighth and last in 2021 in a season marred by captaincy woes involving David Warner, IPL 2022 did not change their fortunes a lot, with the facet once more ending eighth amongst 10 groups beneath new skipper Kane Williamson.
This year, South African opener Aiden Markram has been given the captaincy function, although India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the facet against the Royals because the designated captain will arrive on April 3 after enjoying a two-match ODI sequence against the Netherlands.
With Mayank Agarwal failing to impress with the bat whereas main Rest of India within the Irani Cup last month against Madhya Pradesh, SRH’s prime order seems shaky, although they’ve wicketkeeper-batter Glenn Phillips — one in every of New Zealand’s mainstays within the run up to the 2021 T20 World Cup closing — to present some solidity to the center order.
SRH’s power lies of their tempo bowling line-up comprising Umran Malik, the skilled Bhuvneshwar and South African fast Marco Jansen, although the latter can even not be obtainable for the opening match.
The Royals are not any pushovers within the tempo bowling division both, having New Zealand fast Trent Boult, West Indian Obed McCoy and Navdeep Saini amongst others of their ranks.
Bhuvneshwar has been with SRH since its inception in 2013 and is aware of how the workforce features. Having led the facet on seven events, he is aware of the house floor just like the again of his hand and the data might turn out to be useful on Sunday.
The Teams (From):
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Anmolpreet Singh, Harry Brook, Mayank Dagar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Akeal Hosein, Kartik Tyagi, Heinrich Klaasen, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Glenn Phillips, Adil Rashid, Sanvir Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Umran Malik, Vivrant Sharma, Samarth Vyas, Washington Sundar, Upendra Yadav.
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c), Abdul Basith, Murugan Ashwin, Ravichandran Ashwin, KM Asif, Trent Boult, Jos Buttler, KC Cariappa, Yuzvendra Chahal, Donovan Ferreira, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Obed McCoy, Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Kunal Singh Rathore, Joe Root, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Kuldeep Sen, Akash Vasisht, Kuldip Yadav, Adam Zampa.
Match Starts at 3:30pm IST.
