MULLANPUR, May 26:
The ferocity and fearlessness of a 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will be pitted against the combined might of an explosive top-order when a resurgent Rajasthan Royals run into a solid Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League Eliminator here on Wednesday.
Sunrisers Hyderabad made a slow start to the competition before finding sustained momentum in the second half of the tournament. The arrival of regular captain Pat Cummins for the last seven league games also made a substantial impact as they won five of those contests.
Having beaten Rajasthan Royals twice in the league stage, Cummins and Co. would carry the psychological advantage heading into the high pressure knock-out fixture.
By their own admission, Royals should have qualified much earlier than the last day of the league stage but now that they are there, the Riyan Parag-led unit would be chomping at the bit to put one past Sunrisers Hyderabad and progress deeper into the tournament.
The Royals top order comprising the sensational Sooryavanshi (583 runs), Yashasvi Jaiswal (397) and Dhruv Jurel (458) has expectedly scored the bulk of the runs for the team.
Same is the case with Sunrisers’ trio of Abhishek Sharma (563 runs), Travis Head (393) and Ishan Kishan (569). A special mention is a must for Henrich Klaasen (606) at number four as he is in the middle of his best IPL season.
Notwithstanding the destructive abilities of both the top orders, Jaiswal and Head have not been as consistent as they would have liked. The Eliminator presents them the ideal opportunity for a game changing effort for their respective teams.
Sunrisers are arguably the most destructive side of the tournament and therefore it was hardly a surprise that Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara was inquired about his plans to deal with the opposition’s belligerent top four.
“They’re a good side, aren’t they? They bat well. They trust themselves to go hard and they’ve done it the whole tournament. We have got to hold the line, really. Be disciplined and understand that they’re not a side that you’re going to limit to 120, 130. But we’ve got to be aggressive (with our) lines and lengths.
“Even if you’re trying to bowl a good length ball, or a slower ball, it has to be bowled with intent. With the Sunrisers, yeah, it’s going to be a tough clash for us. Let’s see in two days’ time what we come up with,” Sangakkara said after sneaking into the play-offs.
The Sri Lankan legend would bank on leading wicket taker Jofra Archer (21 wickets) to come up with another match-wining spell in the powerplay on Wednesday night, like he did in the must win clash against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede, making the ball talk with both conventional and cross seam.
Nandre Burger and Brijesh Sharma too have been impressive in patches, operating in all phases of the game.
Young leg-spinner Yash Raj Punja has emerged as the lead spinner ahead of Ravi Bishnoi in his debut IPL season while veteran Ravindra Jadeja needs to do more with both the bat and ball.
At the top of the order, trust Sooryavanshi to show no respect to the likes of Cummins, leading wicket taker Eshan Malinga (19) and Sakib Hussain. If the teenager is off the blocks in the powerplay, he could very well take the game away from the opposition.
Another wrist spinner in his rookie season, Shivang Kumar, too has made his presence felt in the middle overs for Sunrisers.
The Mullanpur Stadium, which staged four league games this season, has offered a good batting surface with 220 plus being scored in three of those contests including a 254 by home team Punjab Kings.
squad:
Sunrisers Hyderabad : Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Smaran Ravichandran, Aniket Verma, Abhishek Sharma, Harsh Dubey, Kamindu Mendis, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (c), Eshan Malinga, Jaydev Unadkat, Harshal Patel, Zeeshan Ansari, Salil Arora, Sakib Hussain, Amit Kumar, Praful Hinge, Krains Fuletra, Liam Livingstone, Shivang Kumar, Onkar Tarmale, Dilshan Madushanka, Gerald Coetzee, RS Ambrish
Rajasthan Royals: Shubham Dubey, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Riyan Parag (c), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Tushar Deshpande, Kwena Maphaka, Sandeep Sharma, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Ravi Bishnoi, Sushant Mishra, Vignesh Puthur, Aman Rao Perala, Brijesh Sharma, Adam Milne, Kuldeep Sen, Dasun Shanaka, Yash Raj Punja, Emanjot Singh Chahal.
Match Starts: 7.30 PM IST.
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