Pune: Rajasthan Royals (RR) with multiple match-winning players will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) here on Monday in a battle between the two former champions, with both teams looking to start the current season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on a winning note. Will stay Royals’ batting will largely depend on the performance of skipper Sanju Samson who has been with the team for the past few years but has not been able to perform as expected.
The Royals won their first IPL title in 2008 under the late Shane Warne but the team has never been able to perform impressively since then. Samson has played well in one or two matches every year but if Royals want to win their second title, he will have to be consistent in his performance. This will also give Samson a chance to cement his place in the Indian team for the T20 World Cup to be held later this year.
Jos Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal can open the innings for the Royals. Butler is capable of tearing apart any attack. He can give Royals a strong start with Padikkal which will make it easier for players like Samson. In the middle order, the Royals have power-hitters Shimron Hetmyer, Rasi van der Dusen, Jimmy Neesham and Riyan Parag. His contribution will be very important for the team.
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Royals have a strong bowling unit in the presence of spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal. Both of them are certain to play in the playing XI and their eight overs will be crucial. The pace department will be headed by Trent Boult with the famous Krishna and Navdeep Saini to accompany him. As far as Sunrisers is concerned, captain Kane Williamson is the most experienced batsman in their batting order.
His New Zealand teammate Glenn Phillips can open the innings while the responsibility of the middle order will be on Nicholas Pooran, Priyam Garg and Rahul Tripathi. If Williamson comes down to number three, then Ravikumar Samarth can play the role of the opener while Abdul Samad will be the finisher. Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the Sunrisers bowling attack but he and Umran Malik will need to be consistent in their performances. Left-arm pacer T Natarajan is making a comeback and his yorker could prove fatal for the opposition batsmen. The role of Washington Sundar, Shreyas Gopal and J Suchit will be crucial in the spinners.
The teams are as follows:
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Shubham Garwal, Dhruv Jurel, Kuldeep Yadav, Kuldeep Sen, Tejas Baroka, Anunay Singh, KC Cariappa, Jos Buttler, Rasie van der Dusen, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jimmy Neesham, Daryl Mitchell , Karun Nair, Obed McCoy, Navdeep Saini, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Famous Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (Captain), Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Priyam Garg, Vishnu Vinod, Glenn Phillips, R Samarth, Shashank Singh, Washington Sundar, Romario Shepherd, Marco Jansen, J Suchit, Shreyas Gopal , Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sean Abbott, Karthik Tyagi, Saurabh Tiwari, Fazlhaq Farooqui, Umran Malik, T Natarajan.
The match will start at 7.30 pm.