After snapping their losing streak with a win over Delhi Daredevils, Rajasthan Royals will now look to keep themselves on course for a play-off berth with another dominating show against an inconsistent Sunrisers Hyderabad in on Thursday. Royals had blasted off to a great start winning first five matches, before losing their way a bit with three losses and two no results but the 14-run win over Delhi on Sunday arrested the slide.
Another win for Royals could virtually ensure their berth in the play-offs with two games left in hand. Sunrisers, on the other hand, have blown hot and cold right through the tournament and are currently placed at the second-last rung of the points table. lack of consistency has been Sunrisers' bane and they need to regroup and show the sort of form they displayed during their 22-run win over league leaders CSK last Saturday before slumping to a loss against defending champions Kolkata knight Riders on Monday.
It's seen that generally whenever their openers — captain Warner and Shikhar Dhawan — fail to provide a good start, the rest of the Sunrisers' batting line-up comes a cropper, which makes the innings launch a very important factor for the Hyderabad franchise. They have a good seam bowling attack led by the likes of Dale Steyn, Trent Boult, Bhuvaneshwar and Praveen Kumar, but lack sufficient sting in the spin department.
Royals have a strong batting order led by opener Ajinkya Rahane, besides captain Shane Watson and Steve Smith to nullify the Sunrisers' attack and post a big score or chase one. Sanju Samson and Karun Nair’s exploits show Royals have other batsmen also to fall back on, apart from the top three. Royals also possess fire-power in their bowling attack with Tim Southee, Dhawal Kulkarni and Shane Watson to trouble the shaky Sunrisers batting.