Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the fifth match of the Tata IPL 2022 on Tuesday, March 29, at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
SRH and RR are the only teams in the competition to have not played a single match so far. Both franchises will aim for a win in their season opener.
After rebuilding their squad, Hyderabad would be looking forward to having a memorable season this time around. They have retained New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson as their first-choice captain. SRH had a forgettable 2021 where they finished at the bottom of the points table for the very first time.
Some key players in Sunrisers Hyderabad are Kane Williamson, Washington Sundar, Nicholas Pooran, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, and Marco Jansen. They will aim for a strong playing XI in the opening game.
Royals have as good a unit as a team can hope for after an auction. They retained Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson, and now have Devdutt Padikkal set to bat at No. 3. Rassie van der Dussen, who has enjoyed a purple patch for South Africa in the last nine months or so, and Shimron Hetmyer, who is especially brutal against spin, are probably vying for one spot in the middle, though the decision for the first game has been taken out of Royals’ hands with the former unavailable for Tuesday’s game.
With Samson likely to bat at No. 4, Royals have a potentially devastating top and middle order. Nos. 6 and 7 don’t look nearly as imposing, and a lot of hope resides in Riyan Parag, whom the franchise bought back after a dismal 2021 season.
Some key players in the Rajasthan Royals squad are Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahar, and Rassie van der Dussen.
Team News :
SRH: Sunrisers would want to forget a forgettable IPL 2021, when they finished as the 8th placed team. They have overhauled the side centring around captain Kane Williamson. They would expect some big things from West Indian Nicholas Pooran and their Indian youngsters like Rahul Tripathi, Abdul Samad, Umran Malik, etc.
RR: Under Sanju Samson, they have a strong and balanced squad, perhaps the best among the 10 teams on paper. The Royals would like to see that translate into on-field performances, and will be eager to make a statement performance against the Hyderabad side. That their players are available from the first match itself is a blessing for them in terms of strategy.
Possible XI
Rajasthan Royals: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Sanju Samson (capt, wk), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 James Neesham/Nathan Coulter-Nile, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Prasidh Krishna
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Rahul Tripathi, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 5 Aiden Markram, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Marco Jansen/Romario Shepherd, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 T Natarajan, 11 Umran Malik
SRH Squad: Kane Williamson (captain), Abdul Samad, Umran Malik, Washington Sundar, Nicholas Pooran, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Priyam Garg, Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma, Karik Tyagi, Shreyas Gopal, Jagadeesha Suchith, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Romario Shepherd, Sean Abbott, R Samarth, Saurabh Dubey, Shashank Singh, Vishnu Vinod, Glenn Philips, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
RR Squad: Yuzvendra Chahal , Sanju Samson (captain) , Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell.