Rajasthan Royals captain Ajinya Rahane won the toss and elected to bat first against Sunrisers Hyderabad in an Indian Premier League match in Hyderabad on Friday.
Rajasthan have fielded an unchanged team, while Sunrisers have made two changes.
Kane Williamson has returned to lead Sunrisers in place of Shakib Al Hasan, while Deepak Hooda made way for Shahbaz Nadeem.
Sunrisers Hyderabad XI : David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson (capt), Vijay Shankar, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul
Rajasthan Royals XI: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Jos Buttler (wk), Steven Smith, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi, K Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni
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It will be a battle between two teams which would be eager to regroup from the early losses they suffered in the Vivo IPL-12 when former champion Sunrisers Hyderabad takes on Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Friday.
With Sunrisers wilting under the onslaught of West Indian Andre Russell in the death overs against Kolkata Knight Riders, probing questions did crop up about the bowling attack during crucial stages.
Major concern
Apparently, the major concern is the diminishing striking prowess of its star bowler and knuckle-ball specialist Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has been struggling a bit in the last year or so.
It will be interesting to see who will partner David Warner, who showed his destructive ability in the first match on his comeback against KKR the other night as Kane Williamson, who is said to be fit for Friday’s game, is also expected to lead the side.
Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Tom Moody said that were hopeful of captain Kane Williamson being available (who missed the first game due to injury) for selection against Rajasthan Royals.
“It is always a joy to play in front of home crowds with the Orange Army supporting us in a big way. There has been dramatic increase in the fan base and this lifts the energy levels of the players,” Moody said.
