Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will aim to continue their winning run in Indian Premier league (IPl) when they take on local favourite Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Sunday.
While the 2016 champions will be keen to make hat-trick of wins, the host will eye for a perfect revenge against SRH, who defeated Rajasthan by 9 wickets in the side's opening fixture at Hyderabad.
After starting this year's edition in style with three wins in the first three games, the 2016 champion lost two consecutive games against Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings.
Sunrisers, however, made a quick recovery and won their next two ties even after putting up low totals on board against Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab.
Skipper Kane Williamson is leading the side's batting attack, smashing 259 runs in the seven games he played. But the poor form of opener Shikhar Dhawan and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha has been the cause of worry for the side.
Indian Test wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha has struggled and managed just 68 runs from seven games, while Dhawan who started with scoring a brilliant half century against Rajasthan Royals in the side's first game, failed to do much later on.
However, the actual strength of SRH lies in their bowling unit, and their bowlers are doing wonders with the ball.
Spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Rashid Khan have bagged eight and nine wickets respectively from seven games. Medium pacer Siddarth Kaul has been the most impressive with nine wickets from seven games. Another medium pacer, Basil Thampi, who has featured in just a couple of games for Hyderabad, came out with a clinical show against Mumbai.
On the other end, Rajasthan will return to action after a week's break and will be in search of their fourth win on Sunday to strengthen their hopes of making a top four finish.
With three wins and as many defeats, Rajasthan are placed fifth with six points.
Skipper Rahane has looked impressive with the bat in the starting overs but has failed to convert good starts into big scores. While the biggest buy of the season Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Rahul Tripathi have been far too inconsistent.
The only positive for the Jaipur based side so far is young Sanju Samson's form. Former Delhi player is looking in good touch and has 239 runs in his name from six games, averaging 47.80.
Rajasthan's bowlers Ben laughlin and Krishnappa Gowtham have performed well while leggie Shreyas Gopal has also been economical. But the trio has failed to click as a unit in the same match.
But, big buy Jaydev Unadkat and Dhawal Kulkarni are yet to contribute from their end. The two have failed to get regular wickets and are leaking too many runs.
However, Jofra Archer who made his IPl debut against Mumbai in the last game looks impressive and will be hoping to keep that momentum going.