Rajasthan Royals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad Preview – Do or Die Battle for Both Teams

Rajasthan Royals (RR) will clash with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in match 40 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Dubai on the 22nd of October, Thursday.

RR is at number 6 on the points table with 4 wins and 6 losses from 10 matches while SRH is at number 7 with 3 wins and 6 losses from 9 matches. Both the teams would be eager for a win as a loss would, in all probability, end their IPL 2020 campaign with very little chance of making the playoffs.

Rahul Tewatia was the star of RR’s five-wicket victory over SRH in their opening encounter in Dubai. Coming in to bat at 78 for 5 after 12 overs, he remained unbeaten on a brilliant 45 off 28 deliveries to help his side chase down the target of 159 off the penultimate ball of the match.

Rajasthan Royals

A fine restrictive bowling effort from RR coupled with a splendid performance with the bat from Jos Buttler handed the team a much needed seven-wicket win over CSK in their last encounter. While Steven Smith has also regained his form, it will be the dramatic dip in performance of Sanju Samson that will worry RR. After starting the tournament with two breathtaking knocks at Sharjah, he has spectacularly fallen registering scores of 8, 4, 0, 5, 26, 25, 9 and 0. Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag and their ability to finish a match gives the lower-middle order a lot of depth.

Tewatia has been RR’s find of IPL 2020. He has been prolific with the bat and the ball. He has picked 7 wickets in the tournament at an economy rate of just under 7.5. Jofra Archer is their trump card with the ball – he is RR’s leading wicket-taker with 13 wickets from 10 matches and also their most restrictive bowler conceding at a rate of just 6.75 runs per over.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

SRH have lost their previous three matches and dug a big hole for themselves in IPL 2020. Jonny Bairstow has got starts in the last couple of matches but failed to convert them into anything substantial. Manish Pandey, who was consistently scoring runs for SRH in the first half, has been dismissed for single digits in the last two encounters. Warner got some runs from Number 4 against KKR and will in all probability continue to bat in the middle order to play the role of the playmaker.

The bowling will be led by the leg-break genius, Rashid Khan. He has picked 11 wickets from 9 matches at a phenomenal economy rate of 5.52. T Natarajan, the left-arm medium pacer has been impressive too and has also bagged 11 wickets. Sandeep Sharma has not picked many wickets but been very restrictive conceding at a rate of just 7.58.

WHAT: IPL 2020, Match 40

WHEN: October 22, 7:30PM IST

WHERE: Dubai

TELECAST: Star Sports Network

LIVE STREAMING: Disney + Hotstar

Predicted XI

Rajasthan Royals – Riyan Parag, Robin Uthappa, Steven Smith, Shreyas Gopal, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer, Ankit Rajpoot, Rahul Tewatia, Kartik Tyagi​

Sunrisers Hyderabad – David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Kane Williamson, Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, Basil Thampi, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan, Abdul Samad

The upcoming match between the two teams will be crucial for both the franchises to stay relevant in the tournament.

Rajasthan Royals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad Dubai Pitch Report

The pitch condition in Dubai is comparatively faster than Sharjah, however, it has become slower as the tournament progresses. The playing conditions can get a bit colder as the evening progresses. Despite the pitch favouring batsman, some bowlers have shown fantastic performances here. Previous two matches played here were won by the teams batting second. Which is quite a stark comparison against teams batting first winning in the initial part of the tournament, four out of the five games played here were won by the teams batting first.

As the following matches including the upcoming one will be crucial for both the teams as there’s no room for error.