Big image – Will upgrades translate into on-field outcomes?
Both groups start a brand new season with squads that look vastly improved, on paper.
How will these upgrades translate into on-field efficiency? We’ll see very quickly, beginning Sunday on the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Team news – Bhuvneshwar to steer SRH
Toss and Impact Player technique – Choices galore
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Probable bat-first XI: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Harry Brook, 5 Glenn Phillips (wk), 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Akeal Hosein, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar (capt), 10 Umran Malik, 11 T Natarajan
Sunrisers might decide simply three abroad gamers of their first XI in the event that they bat first, and herald a fourth – both the quick bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi or the legspinner Adil Rashid – relying on circumstances.
Probable bowl-first XI: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Rahul Tripathi, 3 Harry Brook, 4 Glenn Phillips (wk), 5 Abdul Samad, 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Akeal Hosein, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar (capt), 9 Adil Rashid/Fazalhaq Farooqi, 10 Umran Malik, 11 T Natarajan
Rajasthan Royals
Probable bat-first XI: 1 Jos Buttler (wk), 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Sanju Samson (capt), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Akash Vasisht, 8 Jason Holder, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal
The hard-hitting left-hand batter Akash Vasisht, who additionally bowls a little bit of left-arm spin, might begin for Royals in the event that they bat first, giving them further batting depth alongside the West Indies allrounder Jason Holder. At the change of innings, both Yashasvi Jaiswal or Devdutt Padikkal might make manner for a quick bowler – Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini and Sandeep are potential choices.
Probable bowl-first XI: 1 Jos Buttler (wk), 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Sanju Samson (capt), 4 Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Riyan Parag, 6 Akash Vasisht, 7 Jason Holder, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Navdeep Saini/Kuldeep Sen/Sandeep Sharma, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal
In a bowl-first state of affairs, Padikkal might are available in because the Impact Player when Royals start their chase.
Stats that matter – Hosein vs left-handers
- Hosein may very well be a invaluable addition to the Sunrisers squad. His left-arm spin is skilful and never fully depending on match-ups – because the begin of 2020, he has a T20 economic system charge of 6.22 towards right-hand batters and seven.53 towards left-handers. The IPL will problem him, in fact: it is not essentially for a scarcity of ability that Axar Patel (8.72), Ravindra Jadeja (9.03) and Krunal Pandya (9.10) have considerably increased economic system charges towards left-handers on this interval.
- Sunrisers will probably be glad to have Hosein and Rashid of their squad, as a result of they’d a severe spin problem final season. Their spin wickets tally of 15 was the bottom of any crew in IPL 2022. Royals topped that listing with 40.
- Death bowling was one in every of Royals’ main points final season. Holder might assist them type it out – of all bowlers with at the very least ten wickets within the final 4 overs within the IPL because the begin of 2020, he has the second-best common (12.19) whereas conceding an inexpensive 9.54 per over.
- Holder wants one wicket to achieve the 200 mark in T20 cricket.
Pitch and circumstances – Pace is ace
Since the beginning of 2018, quick bowlers have a collective common of 25.17 and an economic system charge of 8.07 in IPL matches on the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. They have not performed higher on both depend at any Indian venue that is hosted at the very least 20 IPL video games on this time. As far as spinners’ performances go, nevertheless, the bottom sits in the course of the pack. Expect tempo, due to this fact, to play a major function on Sunday.
Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source web site: www.espncricinfo.com