What will we get next, another record-breaking, boundary-drenched display of power hitting from Sunrisers Hyderabad or another polished performance from the leaders Rajasthan Royals?
Sunrisers were the talk of the town a week or two ago when they were piling on 250+ scores and seriously threatening to cross the 300 boundary for the first time in T20 cricket, but successive defeats and a misfiring batting order have cast some doubt on the Sunrisers.
The Royals on the other hand, go from strength to strength with big players finding form as we reach the back end of the tournament.
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Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals Tips and Predictions
Travis Head to be the top-scorer for Sunrisers Hyderabad
Head was in stunning form for Sunrisers up until a week or so ago, rediscovering the brutal form that saw him named player of the match in both the World Cup and World Test Championship finals.
Successive scores of 102 and 89, off 41 and 32 balls respectively, powered him past 300 runs for the season at an average above 40 and with a strike-rate well in excess of 200 but since then scores of 1 and 13 have brought him back down to earth.
Head will feel like he is due a big score against the Royals, and with the rest of the order failing to step up in his absence, the lineup has faltered.
He is always going to be very hit or miss given his approach with the bat, but we’re backing him to come out firing this time.
Trent Boult to take 2+ wickets
This game could well be decided in the first six overs of the Sunrisers Hyderabad innings.
If Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma fire, the Royals will be in for a long afternoon and there is the familiar prospect of more records falling but if Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma make early inroads, the Sunrisers have shown in recent games that they have struggled to rebuild.
Boult is an experienced campaigner and while he hasn’t set the world alight this season - he has 10 wickets in nine matches - an economy under eight is still excellent considering the runs scored this season.
However given the high-risk approach of Sunrisers, we think there is every chance Boult makes early inroads and if not, expect Head to prosper.
Buttler to score 30+, Samson to score 20+, Natarajan to take 1+ wicket
Rajasthan’s batting has been pretty formidable of late, with Riyan Parag carrying the batting lineup in the early stages of the season before Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler started finding a bit of form, while Sanju Samson has been serene throughout.
Buttler has two centuries to his name but is arguably not quite at his best still, but Samson is at the peak of his powers and will be on a high after being included in India’s T20 World Cup squad.
Between them they have 704 runs this season, with Samson averaging 77 and Buttler 53 with strike-rates of 161 and 150 respectively. Put simply, if these two bat as they have been doing, the Royals will be hard to beat.
T Natarajan is perhaps unfortunate not to have been considered a bit more for the World Cup, having starred with 13 wickets in seven matches so far in this year’s IPL, while maintaining an economy below 10.
He bowls at the death which is usually a pretty decent guarantee of picking up a wicket.
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