It will be the best batting side of the Indian Premier League 2024 up against the best bowling side of the season when Sunrisers Hyderabad face Rajasthan Royals on Thursday in match number 50 of the tournament in Hyderabad. (Preview | Full Coverage)
SRH have suddenly found their batters out of form and have suffered back-to-back losses first to Royal Challengers Bengaluru and then to Chennai Super Kings. They are currently fifth in the table with five wins and four losses. The Pat Cummins-led side would desperately want their big guns to get back among runs.
RR have just lost one game in their nine matches and that too on the last ball against Gujarat Titans. They have earned four consecutive victories on either side of that loss. The batters are hitting form one by one and the bowling unit is performing well as a whole.
Here are the three key battles that will be the most interesting to watch in the SRH vs RR IPL 2024 match.
SRH Openers vs R Ashwin
R Ashwin loves to bowl to left-handers and he will have two of them when RR take field against SRH. Ashwin has been out of form this year and has just two wickets to his name but Sanju Samson will still trust the veteran against the dangerous SRH opening duo.
Travis Head has at times struggled against off-spin but Abhishek Sharma has not and how they approach Ashwin will be interesting to see. The duo has not fired in the last two games so a big game is due. Will it be tomorrow? Time will tell.
Heinrich Klassen vs Yuzvendra Chahal
Klassen is among the strongest players of spin in T20 world right now and on Thursday he will be up against the most successful IPL bowler Yuzvendra Chahal. Klassen never shies away from smashing spinners no matter the situation and Chahal never backs away from trying to take wickets.
The battle between the spin slayer and the spin master is going to be a mouth-watering one without doubt.
Jos Buttler vs Pat Cummins
Despite hitting two centuries in the season, Jos Buttler has not looked at his best so far. Still, Buttler remains a big threat for SRH. On his day, he can snatch games out of nowhere as he showed against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Aware of this, SRH captain Pat Cummins will definitely bring him on to tackle the Buttler challenge. Cummins has been good this season and has kept the lid on scoring rate despite not much support from other bowlers.
There is always a good contest on cards when a top Australian and Englishman clash and Thursday will be no different.
