IPL 2020, RR vs SRH preview: All eyes on young guns as Sunrisers meet Royals in must-win game

The young guns from both Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad could be the key in testing times when both teams square off in a must-win Indian Premier League game on Thursday.

Whether it is Priyam Garg and Abdul Samad of Sunrisers or Kartik Tyagi and Riyan Parag of the Royals, the youngsters from both sides will be in focus as the seniors struggle to take the team over the line.

The Sunrisers are currently tottering on the second last place in the eight-team table with just six points from nine game while Royals are just ahead with eight points.

SRH can’t afford to slip up since another loss would virtually rule them out of the play-offs race. The Royals would hope to continue with the winning momentum and hope that their foreign recruits continue to perform like they did in the comprehensive win over Chennai Super Kings in the previous game.

The last time these two teams met, Rahul Tewatia produced another sensational innings in a run-chase as he and Riyan Pirag rescued Rajasthan Royals in a thrilling five-wicket victory.

That win over Sunrisers helped Royals got their campaign back on track and they seem to have the edge over David Warner and Co, who lost to KKR in the Super Over in their previous game.

For Royals, Jofra Archer continues to be the backbone of the bowling attack while the wrist-spinning duo of Shreyas Gopal and Rahul Tewatia were terrific in the middle overs against CSK and skipper Smith would be hoping for an encore from his bowlers on Thursday.

In batting, Jos Buttler looked in ominous form the other night, forcing Smith to play the second fiddle but RR would need more consistent partnerships upfront.

“I have been doing ok, not quite scored as many runs as I would’ve liked to and help the team win matches,” Buttler said on the eve of the match.

“We have started to play better in the last few matches. We probably should have won the last three but have only managed to win one of those, so we now have four matches remaining, all of which are must-win for us. We will need to win all our games to give us a chance of making the playoffs,” Buttler said.

All-rounder Ben Stokes is yet to fire and Robin Uthappa had been their weakest link so far, which might prompt Smith to give a go to someone like Punjab dasher Manan Vohra. The other aspect that hurt them is Sanju Samson’s form which like every other year has gone from good to bad and now worse.

SRH, on the other hand, would still be smarting from the Super Over loss to Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday. They need to come out of that shock quickly and re-strategise if they want to keep themselves afloat.

The team heavily relies on its batting unit, mainly on the top four comprising Jonny Bairstow, Warner, Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson. The big guns will need to fire to keep their team in the competition.

Squads

Match starts at 7.30 pm IST and will be live on Star Sports network / Disney+ Hotstar

(With PTI inputs)