CHENNAI: Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will lock horns with Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Qualifier-2 match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the M A Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have already reached the final of the 17th season of the IPL, and whichever franchise wins today’s match will lock horns against the Kolkata-based franchise at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.
The Hyderabad-based franchise are in their top form in the IPL 2024 and etched their name on the record book by breaching the highest team total in the IPL three times this season. Earlier, it was Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) 263/5 in the 2013 season which held the landmark of the highest team total in the history of the IPL.
With the likes of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi in the top batting order, SRH have successfully entered the T20 tournament with an aggressive approach. They are the only side to score 100 or more runs in the powerplay this season.
The Rajasthan-based franchise started the season on a good note and kept a four-match winning streak two times in the tournament. However, as time passed and we came into the second half of the IPL 2024, the Royals started to maintain their consistency. In May, RR’s first win came in the Eliminator round when they beat RCB to book their place in the Qualifier 2 match.
The Royals don’t have a destructive batting lineup as compared to the Sunrisers but they have a fiery bowling attack with the likes of Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal, Nandre Burger, and Ravichandran Ashwin.
The Qualifier- 2 match will be an interesting clash as the best bowling attack will take on a destructive batting lineup to book their place in the final match of the IPL 2024.
Hyderabad finished the league stage of the T20 tournament in second place with 17 points and a net run rate of +0.414 after winning 8 of 14 matches. While the Rajasthan concluded their league matches in third place with 17 points and a net run rate of +0.273 after winning 8 of 14 matches.
The Royals are coming into today’s match after beating RCB by four wickets in the Eliminator round of the IPL 2024. On the other hand, SRH conceded an 8-wicket loss against KKR in the Qualifier 1 match of the tournament.
Rajasthan Royals squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Sanju Samson (Wk/C), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shimron Hetmyer, Nandre Burger, Shubham Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Donovan Ferreira, Navdeep Saini, Keshav Maharaj, Kuldeep Sen, Abid Mushtaq, Kunal Singh Rathore.
Sunrisers Hyderabad squad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (Wk), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (C), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, T Natarajan, Sanvir Singh, Umran Malik, Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Agarwal, Aiden Markram, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Yadav, Mayank Markande, Jhatavedh Subramanyan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh. (ANI)