IPL 2018, Match 4, Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals - Expectation vs Reality

The fourth match of the tournament is the opener for both teams involved, i.e. Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals, the teams that were most affected by the Australian ball-tampering incident. While the former will take the field in their home ground with a new captain at the helm, the latter will be staging a comeback in the tournament after two years.

SRH have been the underdogs for the last couple of years and did well under David Warner’s leadership to do justice to their reputation. While the batting was always a concern for that side, Warner did the bulk of it and with him gone and Kane Williamson assuming captaincy, things are expected to change a bit now that they have bulked up their middle order and enhanced their already splendid bowling unit.

Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, have taken a 360-degree turn from what their strategy used to be all these years. This year they went all out in the auction instead of buying value-for-money kind of players at a low cost. With captain Steve Smith ruled out, Ajinkya Rahane will take over the role as captain and will have the responsibility of making sure the diverse line-up gels well together. With the likes of Ben Stokes, D’Arcy Short, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler and Henrich Klaasen at their disposal, they have some of the best overseas players in the squad.

Which team will emerge victorious is hard to say but we have a few expectations from a few players, do you have the same ones?

Wriddhiman Saha to show off some limited overs cricket skills

If you’ve been keeping track of Saha, you would know he recently scored a 20-ball-century to help Mohun Bagan beat Bengal Nagpur Railways. He was batting at a strike rate of 510.00. If that wasn’t enough for a hint or if you think that is an ordinary feat, he followed it up with some clean hitting in the SRH practice match too.

Bought by the side for Rs. 5 Cr, the wicketkeeper-batsman could be a major help in resolving the problem created due to Warner’s void. However, expect something like that to happen only if he opens and continue the same stunning form. Often only categorized as a Test batsman, things could really get interesting if Saha does show his limited-overs’ prowess.

Why Stokesy and IPL go hand in hand

Stokes will answer that himself. Expect a quick cameo and a couple or more wickets from the all-rounder playing for his new franchise, RR. An ideal situation for him will be if he bats at four or five and sometime after 8-10 overs are done. That’s when Stokes’ batting abilities will realise its true potential.

In the match against SRH, he will not only show a glimpse of why all the teams must be wary when playing against this side but will also show why he was the most expensive buy in the auction.

Wait for the reality check that comes right after this match..

No show from Rajasthan Royals

The side’s comeback match was far from being a memorable one, they were defeated by 9 wickets by the Sunrisers as their batting proved no match to a disciplined bowling and fielding unit in the first innings. They were wrapped up for 125 runs as every bowler picked up a wicket each while Siddharth Kaul was the pick of the bowlers with figures 2/17 backed by Shakib al Hasan’s 2/23.

In the second innings too, the Sunrisers batsmen were far superior in their approach almost making it look like they were batting on a different pitch. Saha was dismissed quickly but Dhawan and Williamson were there to stay and batted on easily, taking on the likes of Stokes, Unadkat, Gopal, Gowtham, Laughlin, Kulkarni and Short.

No show from Saha or Stokes either

Our expectations for both the players were far from reality. Stokes was neither helpful with the bat nor with the ball. He was dismissed for 5 runs and was hit for 21 runs in 2 overs. There were expectations from Saha too, he did start of the proceedings full of intent but a quick rash short brought his undoing in 5 deliveries itself.

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