What

Sunrisers Hyderabad will open their VIVO IPL 2018 campaign when they take on the returning Rajasthan Royals in Match 4.

SRH’s pre-season plans must have fallen into disarray after their regular captain David Warner – one of the two players they chose to retain – was banned by the BCCI following certain events on the Australian team’s tour of South Africa; the franchise have since handed the reins of the team to Kane Williamson and signed on Alex Hales as a replacement. The franchise retained Bhuvneshwar Kumar and then used the right to match card to re-sign Shikhar Dhawan, Deepak Hooda and Rashid Khan at the Player Auction.

Rajasthan Royals, who are back in the competition after two years, too had to reorganise their plans last minute because their first-choice captain Steve Smith too was banned by the BCCI. The franchise named Ajinkya Rahane as the captain for the season; they have also roped in Shane Warne – their title-winning captain – as Team Mentor. At the Player Auction, RR spent liberally and signed up some exciting talent, including the English all-rounder Ben Stokes, the wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler and recent T20 sensations D’Arcy Short and Jofra Archer.

SRH fell out of the race in the Eliminator last season; they will be keen to go the distance this season and hope to lay their hands on the silverware yet again. RR will want to celebrate their return to the IPL with a win.

When

9 April 2018, 2000Hrs (IST)

Where

Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad

Impact Batsmen

Shikhar Dhawan has been in excellent form so far this year, and he will be expected to shoulder additional responsibility to make up for the absence of David Warner. In Alex HalesSRH have an equally dangerous specialist opener; the Englishman has a batting strike-rate of 143.54 in T20s.

Captain Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson are the Rajasthan Royals’ key Indian batsmen. The team management will have a tricky decision in picking their overseas batsmen; considering Ben Stokes will be a certainty, RR have to pick at least two more specialist batmen from among D’Arcy Short, Jos Buttler and Heinrich Klaasen.

Impact Bowlers

JaydevUnadkat was brilliant in VIVO IPL 2017, and it wasn’t a surprise therefore that his stocks soared at the IPL Player Auction 2018; RR eventually baggedUnadkat coughing up INR 11.5crore,making him the most expensive Indian player in the Auction.With that kind of price tag comes the responsibility, and the 26-year old will be expected to repeat, or even better, his last season’s performance. Ben Stokes is another bowler in the RR line-up capable of making things happen.

In the SRH line-up, Bhuvneshwar Kumar – the Purple Cap winner in the last two IPL seasons, and Rashid Khan are the ones likely to cause most damage with the ball.

Team Head to Head

Overall: Matches – 7, Sunrisers Hyderabad won – 3, Rajasthan Royals won – 4

Trivia

Sunrisers Hyderabad have a 20-10 win-loss record in IPL matches at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad; the win-loss record improves to 10-3 in the last 13 matches they’ve played at the venue.

The team batting first won 6 of the 8 matches played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad in last season’s IPL.

At the age of 27 years & 244 days, Kane Williamson will become Sunrisers Hyderabad’s youngest captain.

Ben Stokes was in the thick of things in his maiden stint in the IPL last season; he scored 316 runs (including a century & a half-century), took 12 wickets & clung on to 5 catches.

SRH’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been Ajinkya Rahane’s nemesis in the IPL; the pacer has dismissed the current RR captain on 6 occasions, while only conceding 69 runs in 75 balls.

What Next

Sunrisers Hyderabad will remain at home after this match and play host to the Mumbai Indians next on April 12 (8p.m). Rajasthan Royals meanwhile head back to HQ and play their first home game of VIVO IPL 2018; they take on Delhi Daredevils next on April 11 (8pm).