SRH vs RR Highlights, IPL 2021: Williamson, Roy fifties take Hyderabad to a convincing 7-wicket win over Rajasthan

Rajasthan Royals: Evin Lewis, Chris Morris, Jaydev Unadkat replace Tabraiz Shamsi, David Miller, Kartik Tyagi

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Jason Roy, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Siddarth Kaul replace David Warner, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Khaleel Ahmed

We are looking to bat first. Team combo, atmosphere suits us to bat first. We learn from the loss in the last game. We are having fitness issues. Kartik Tyagi is out with injury. Morris and Lewis return.

Rajasthan Royals' Sanju Samson wins toss, opts to bat

Well, all the questions with respect to the playing XIs will soon be answered when the two captains turn up for the toss. 

Well, on the pre-match show on Star Sports, we are hearing that David Warner can't be seen on the ground, while Jason Roy is seen practising. 

So, is the change going to happen at the top?

"My role is as a finisher and I just try to prepare myself accordingly at training. We play scenarios as well in the nets where we look to chase targets and all against the bowlers. My bowling was because of the captain's gut feel and he had seen me bowling in the practice games as well. We didn't get any momentum while batting in the last game and we are going to look to build partnerships and momentum in the coming games. We still have five matches left. If we win we could definitely go up on the points table. Our focus is just one match at a time and focus on the processes."

“It is a huge week. We know that we need to win at least four or five out of the next games. This is a crunch game for us and a win will put us on number four. The guys are really pumped. It is nice to have a legend like Sangakkara,he has a calming effect and knows his business as well. It has been nice to mix with him off the field as well. We have a great thing going and hopefully, a win will put us in a better space. Just winning is important at the moment, over the NRR first things first. Lomror has been unbelievable and hopefully, things can continue.”

"We are using exactly the same surface we used last night. It still looks fantastic. Nice coverage of grass, got a good sound... tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. Looks hard. One side is just 62 metres," says Simon Doull. 

"Yes the pacers had success with slower balls, but if the batters stand in the crease they can hit down the ground or use the shorter boundary. For me, it still remains good for batting," reckonsAnjum Chopra.

A look at our SRH's Predicted XI vs RR: Jason Roy, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson (C), Manish Pandey, Virat Singh/Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jagadish Suchith/Sandeep Sharma, Basil Thampi/Khaleel Ahmed

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A look at our RR's Predicted XI vs SRH: Evin Lewis, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (C/WK), Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Phillips/Liam Livingstone, Riyan Parag, Chris Morris, Rahul Tewatia, Kartik Tyagi, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya

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Top scorers- Manish Pandey - 246 Runs | Sanju Samson - 430 Runs

Highest Scores- 83* By Manish Pandey On Oct 22, 2020 | 102* By Sanju Samson On Mar 29, 2019

Best bowlers- Bhuvneshwar Kumar - 9 Wickets |Jaydev Unadkat - 6 Wickets

Best figures in a match - 4/14 By Bhuvneshwar Kumar On May 08, 2014| 3/20 By Mustafizur Rahman On May 02, 2021

Even though the overall Head-to-head honours are shared, RR have dominated the recent encounter

RR won by 55 runs (IPL 2021, Match 28)

SRH won by 8 wickets (IPL 2020, Match 40)

RR won by 5 wickets (IPL 2020, Match 26)

RR won by 7 wickets (IPL 2019, Match 45)

SRH won by 5 wickets (IPL 2019, Match 8)

David Warner, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Kane Williamson(c), Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Jason Roy, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Mohammad Nabi, Virat Singh, Basil Thampi, Jagadeesha Suchith, Abhishek Sharma, Priyam Garg, Umran Malik

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Liam Livingstone, Sanju Samson(w/c), David Miller, Mahipal Lomror, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Kartik Tyagi, Chetan Sakariya, Tabraiz Shamsi, Mustafizur Rahman, Jaydev Unadkat, Chris Morris, Manan Vohra, Evin Lewis, Shreyas Gopal, KC Cariappa, Glenn Phillips, Shivam Dube, Oshane Thomas, Mayank Markande, Anuj Rawat, Gerald Coetzee, Kuldip Yadav, Akash Singh

SRH's last match against PBKS will be remmebered for Jason Holder's one-man show. He took 3/19 in 4 overs and then smashed 47 to almost see his team home. If SRH are to spoil RR's party today, he will need more support.

Two Asian bowlers at the top of their game. Who wins the battle tonight? The Fizz or Rashid?

He was the star of the previous game. How many runs will he score and how many wickets will he take?

RR have won three of their last five games.

vs DC: Lost by 33 runs

vs PBKS: Won by 2 runs

vs SRH: Won by 55 runs

vs MI: Lost by 7 wickets

vs KKR: Won by 6 wickets

On the other hand, bruised and battered SRH have lost all their last 5 matches

vs PBKS: lost by 5 runs

vs DC: lost by 8 wickets

vs RR: lost by 55 runs

vs CSK: lost by 7 wickets

vs DC: lost in the Super Over

Their last meeting in the first half of IPL 2021 was dominated by an innings of a lifetime by England's Jos Buttler. At the Arun Jaitley Stadium, the swashbuckling keeper-batsman smashed 124 of just 64 balls to guide RR to 220/3 in 20 overs. In response, SRH could only manage 165/8 in 20 overs, and hence, registering a 55-run win. Both Mistafizur Rahman and Chris Morris picked up 3 wickets each.

The SRH-RR battle will also see two batting stalwarts go head-to-head but on the back of very different runs. While SRH captain Williamson is yet to fire in the second phase of the IPL, RR captain Samson seemed to have found his mojo in the previous game with an unbeaten 40. So far, Williamson has only scored 147 runs in 6 games, while Samson has scored 351 runs in 9 matches. Who will win this battle today?

Best Bowling Figures:

5/32 By Arshdeep Singh (Punjab Kings) Against Rajasthan

Royals In 2021.

Highest Partnership:

181 By Shane Watson And Faf Du Plessis (Chennai Super

Kings) For 1st Wicket Against Punjab Kings In 2020.

Win Rate Batting First:

50% (5 Won; 5 Lost)

Highest Team Total:

219/2 By Sunrisers Hyderabad Against Delhi Capitals In 2020.

Lowest Team Total:

109/10 By Royal Challengers Bangalore Against Punjab Kings

In 2020.

Highest Individual Score:

132 By KL Rahul (Punjab Kings) Against Royal Challengers

Bangalore In 2020.

Both Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals are currently placed in the bottom half of the table.

SRH-  8th position (P-9 | W-1 | L-8 | Points-2)

RR- 6th position (P-9 | W-4 | L-5 | Points-8)

Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals have played each other 14 times and in the IPL and the honours have so far been shared with 7 wins apiece. More than SRH, it is important for RR to make it 8-7 in their favour