🏏IPL 2023: Rajasthan Royals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 52nd Match 🏏

I hate losing and cricket being my first love, once I enter the ground it's a different zone altogether and that hunger for winning is always there. 

Sachin Tendulkar

Tag & Logo Credit: Sevenstreaks

Currently, the Royals are in fourth place, having won five out of ten games, but are coming off a two-match losing streak, with their last defeat being a humiliating loss against Gujarat Titans.

The buzzword at the post-match press conference after Friday's humiliation for Rajasthan Royals was intent. Kumar Sangakkara admitted that being thoroughly outclassed by Gujarat Titans was embarrassing, and rued the absence of batting intent and their inability to consolidate on a solid start.

Sunrisers are in the second-last position in the points table, having won three out of nine matches and only one game out of the previous five. 

In their last game against Kolkata Knight Riders, they lost by five runs while chasing a target of 172 runs. Aiden Markram top-scored with 41 runs off 40 deliveries for the team.

The Royals and Sunrisers have faced each other in 17 IPL matches. The Sunrisers have won eight games, while the Royals have won the remaining nine.

 In the last five games, the Royals have won four, including the most recent match this season, where they posted 203 runs for the loss of five wickets, and the Sunrisers were able to score only 131 runs.

Yashasvi Jaiswal  is the second-highest run-scorer for the Royals and has scored 442 runs in ten innings at an average of 44.2 and a strike rate of 158.42. 

Jaiswal has made over 100 runs against the Sunrisers at a strike rate of 137.08.

Jos Buttler, the 32-year-old batter has made 297 runs in ten games at an average of 29.7 and a strike rate of 138.78. Buttler has made a century and a half-century in his last three outings against the Sunrisers.

Sanju Samson,  played the role of a lone warrior in the previous game and scored 30 runs off 20 deliveries. Samson has made a total of 242 runs in ten matches at an average of 24.2 and a strike rate of 150.31.

But an occasional excellent batting and bowling display  from Sunrisers which stunned many teams, will be an interesting factor now! 

PS: Don't forget to send your predictions for Match 52

Deadline for toss prediction: 7:00PM IST

Deadline for rest of the predictions: 7:30PM IST

Make sure you hit "Submit prediction" button for initial predictions and "Update Prediction" button after making any subsequent changes to register your predictions.

PITCH REPORT

In the last three years, Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur has hosted a total of 15 T20 games, and the average first innings score has been 137 runs. 

The pitch might have a lot for the bowlers in this game. Spinners might prove to be more dominant in this game and have taken 55% of wickets in T20s, while the pacers have taken 45%. The team winning the toss might look to bat.

Another slow burner? The same surface that had the RR batters struggle for runs against GT will be used on Sunday.

Weather Conditions

We will see clear skies at Jaipur on May 7, and the conditions will be perfect for the game. The pitch is expected to be a good one to bat on, where fast bowlers won't have much support. The first side batting would target 180 plus to feel comfortable on this surface. 

Head-to-head: In 17 encounters, RR have won 9 and SRH 8. At the venue, RR have won 2 of the three games played.

Seems like a low scoring pitch😳

Venue Details

Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, is a batsman's paradise. The wicket has true bounce and pace, allowing batters to hit through the line. The spinners enjoy bowling on this surface as the ball bounces and turns sharply. There isn't much assistance for the fast bowlers unless conditions are perfect.

Toss: To Bowl

The pitch has been tricky, where we have seen batsmen struggle to get going. Settling up totals on such a track is never easy. Most games have been won by sides that have chased scores. We expect this trend to continue, and the side winning the toss shall like to bowl first.

Sunrisers Hyderabad have looked down and out this year. Their top order has failed to deliver, and the bowlers were inconsistent in most games. They have to make a turnaround to win this game. The Rajasthan Royals have a powerful batting line-up that bats deep and three experienced spinners. It gives them an advantage in this game. 

Rajasthan Royals

Tactics & Match-ups: Trent Boult has constantly made dents early in the PowerPlay but even Sandeep Sharma will be vital against SRH as he matches-up well against their opener Mayank Agarwal (47 runs in 44 balls; 3 dismissals). Mayank also has a feisty match-up against Chahal, having hit 72 off the 49 balls he's faced from the leggie. However, Chahal has got him out six times.

Probable XI: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Adam Zampa, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma

RR desperately turned to Riyan Parag in the previous fixture as the impact substitute as their batting innings fell apart after Sanju Samson decided to set a target. They will have to rethink the strategy even if they end up in a similar situation again as Parag has struggled all season to get runs under his belt.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Injury/Unavailability: None reported

Tactics & Match-ups: SRH will hope Bhuvneshwar Kumar's vast experience will be handy in extending Jos Buttler's struggle. Bhuvneshwar has conceded 45 runs at a run-a-ball to the England batter in the IPL without getting him out. In all T20s, he has given away 88 off 82 and dismissed him five times.

Probable XI: Abhishek Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Harry Brook, Heinrich Klaasen, Abdul Samad, Marco Jansen/Akeal Hossein, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Kartik Tyagi 

Either Rahul Tripathi or T Natarajan is likely to be the impact substitute based on what happens at the toss.

Thanks for the tag Madhu.🤗

May the best team win.👍🏼

Cheers..

What they said:

"Games like these, most sides have pretty bad games. Unfortunately we've had one now late in the tournament. We're still a high quality side playing some very good cricket if you take this one out of the equation. We've got to accept the fact that we were extremely poor [against GT]. That's the first step, you realise it, you accept it and then try to come up with solutions for what the problems are. We know what the issues were. Just training mindlessly is not the way. It's just the case of making sure the guys are committed to coming back harder, smarter in the next game and committing to the quality of cricket that we play." - Kumar Sangakkara on RR's flattening defeat to GT on Friday.

"For us, I think the equation now is quite simple. We haven't done the math yet but we're assuming it is a must-win game every time we take the field so the guys are looking forward to that. It's not the most ideal position for the team to be in but unfortunately we can't undo the past. We've got five games to look forward to." - SRH captain Aiden Markram

Did you know:

- Yuzvendra Chahal has picked 24 wickets in 18 outings against SRH, with a best of 4 for 17

- Heinrich Klaasen has been SRH's best batter against spin - 93 runs off 53 balls at a strike rate of 175.47 and one dismissal. 

Harry Brook's batting issues magnified SRH's struggles this year. The Englishman arrived with a massive ball-striking reputation and as a big-money signing (INR 13.25 Cr) but has struggled largely to adapt - 100* in one innings and a collective 63 in 8 others. 

Aiden Markram however, appeared to suggest on Saturday that he will be persisted with. Even in a season where just four points separates the team at the top (Gujarat Titans) and the team at seventh (Punjab Kings), SRH are still a few paces behind in the multi-team sprint to a top-four finish.

This is a bowling pitch , a total of 2 matches have been played on this pitch, in which the team bowling first has won 1 matches and the team batting first has won 0 matches. The average score on this pitch is 164. Bowling first after winning the toss would be the right decision.

Weather in Jaipur, IN is Clear. The temperature is expected to around 33°C on the match day with 24% humidity and 11 km/h wind speed. And the Visiblity is 5 KM. There are 1% chances of precipitation during the game.

Thanks for the tag and thread, Madz!

Reading on twitter that Root is playing today🥳