IPL 2019 – Match 8: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals – SRH Predicted Playing XI

After having failed to breach the ‘Dre Russ‘ territory in Kolkata, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will be back in action on Friday. They will be playing against the Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad in their second match of the season. This game will pose a different set of challenges for the home team.

Jos Buttler, who has been an absolute beast while playing in the IPL, will be looking to make up for the half-baked innings in Jaipur. Also, the SRH batsmen will have to deal with the Jofra Archer threat who has bowled well in the previous game. With the regular skipper Kane Williamson coming back, SRH will have a few changes to make. But more importantly, who will sit out?

Here is the Predicted Playing XI for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH):

Openers (Jonny Bairstow (wk), David Warner)

This is the first time ever that English cricketer Jonny Bairstow has come to India. Thus, the conditions were completely alien to him. It seemed as if he had troubles analysing the bounce while playing in Kolkata. But, he might have got accustomed to the conditions better now. Bairstow can be lethal when he gets going and is the best T20 wicket-keeper batsman available in the SRH squad. So, it only makes sense to provide him with a few more opportunities and bring him into his comfort zone.

David Warner had a dream comeback into the IPL after being out for about two years. The left-hander is as confident as he ever is and hit the ball really well. He was unfortunate to have missed out on his century but will look to get there when playing in Hyderabad. Even though he isn’t the captain anymore, he is still taking the onus of the team in crunch situations which is pleasing to see.

Middle Order (Kane Williamson (c), Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan)

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson was the best batsman for SRH in the last season. But going ahead, he has got a massive challenge in front of him as he will be batting at number three if Bairstow plays. It would be interesting to see how he responds to this big hurdle as a lot of hopes for the Hyderabad franchise will depend on him. It wouldn’t be a surprise either if he decides to open and asks Bairstow to bat at three. However, this seems quite unlikely.

The Sunrisers have got quite a few utility players in their middle and lower-middle order. But the issue is that more of them are massive hitters and don’t have the capability of turning around the game in two or three overs consistently. The team would rely a lot on Yusuf Pathan for this job and will hope that he’ll come good. Also, Manish Pandey looked good in his brief stay in the middle in the last match. He will like to play more of an impactful knock in the next game.

All Rounders (Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rashid Khan)

Vijay Shankar played well against Kolkata and was unbeaten on 40 off 24 balls. But, he hit a lot of deliveries straight to the fielders and will look to work on finding the gaps more often. Since they have got three overseas players in the top-3, SRH has got no other option but to bench Shakib Al Hasan. They have got a like-for-like replacement in the form of Shahbaz Nadeem, at least with the ball.

Since they have stocked their middle-order with some quality players, they can afford to play someone like Nadeem at seven. Rashid Khan was SRH’s best bowler in the last game. The conditions in Hyderabad will suit him much better and he will also have a big role to play with the bat.

Bowlers (Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma)

The SRH vice-captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar was nailing the yorkers well in the last game and also swung the ball. He is slowly getting back to his best. He bowled just one bad over and there was nothing much he could do as Andre Russell went berserk. Similarly, Siddarth Kaul also went for quite a few runs at the depth.

But, he will surely continue in the eleven and is quite an impact bowler. One would feel that Sandeep Sharma wasn’t handled well in the last game. He is a new ball bowler but was brought in at a high-pressure situation. Bhuvi doesn’t have much experience of captaincy prior to the last game and it clearly showed. Sandeep will get another opportunity to showcase his talent in the next game.

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