Qualifier 2: SRH vs RR – The Road to Finale

The winner between the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) will face Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the finals. Both the teams showed a lot of improvement in their performance during the group stage and wanted to end that on a good note. 

Both the teams played just one match in the group stage against each other where with the superb last ball of Bhuveneshwar Kumar got Hyderabad one run win over Rajasthan.

Teams Analysis: 

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) squad analysis: 

This team has one of the best destructive batting units in this season of the IPL but their bowling is a little weak in comparison to their batting. Also they have a huge dependency upon the opening batters, if they failed to score runs, then it mostly cost them the match. They failed to win Qualifier 1, which was against KKR and the Men in Purple got a one sided domination against the Orange Army. 

Pat Cummins © – 

The leader of the team has been performing decent till now in the season. His calm and patience has taken the team to the Playoffs. He was leading the team for the first time in the IPL and took the team to the Playoffs. Not only this he is mostly consistent in the wicket taking process. 

In 14 matches, he took 16 wickets with an economy of 9.42. With the bat also he impressed little with some 30s to his name. In the last match against KKR, he provided valuable 30 runs in lower down the order and took his team score close to 160. 

Travis Head – 

He is the leading runs scorer of the team with 533 runs to his name. His strike rate is 199.63 in this season and has hit one century and four half-centuries. But in the last two matches he got out on a zero, which is a hard problem as he was not able to provide the destructive start.  

Abhishek Sharma – 

He is the other hard hitter opener whose strike rate this season surges to 207.05, which is the highest among the players in the team. In 14 matches he scored 470 runs in which 3 half-centuries were included. In this season he has hit most sixes (41). He is a consistent performer of the team and got scored in both the innings. But most of the time after scoring some 30s he got out. 

Rahul Tripathi – 

He didn’t get many chances to bat in this season but due to the poor batting performance of Aiden Markram and Mayank Agarwal, he marked his presence. This decision he proved when he played a brilliant knock of 55 runs in the last match against KKR in the Qualifier 1, but was misfortune then and got run-out. 

Heinrich Klaasen (wk)- 

The wicket-keeper of the team has shown tremendous power in the middle and with a strike rate of 180.35 he scored 413 runs. In those runs he got past 50+ knocks thrice. His best was against MI where he scored unbeaten 80 runs in just 34 balls. He has the ability to change the momentum of the match towards his side with his hard hitting of the ball. 

Nitish Reddy – 

Reddy is providing stability to the team in both the departments but he has shown excellency in the batting. With the bat he scored 285 runs in 9 innings in which two half-centuries were included. His strike rate is 148.44. With the bowl he has taken 3 wickets till now. 

Shahbaz Ahmed – 

The other all-rounder of the team but he also showed huge improvement in the batting department and with one half-century he scored 189 runs. His strike rate is 134.04. He also took 3 wickets with an economy of 10.71.  

Abdul Samad – 

The pinch hitter of the team has a strike rate of 172.82 but has not been much consistent with the bat as he scored just 178 runs. Most of the time he gets choked while playing a big shot but still he has the caliber to get some valuable runs towards the end. 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 

The most experienced player in the squad has taken 11 wickets till now but with an economy of 9.13. Though his economy is higher, he improved his line and length during the second phase of the tournament. At the start his economy was above 10 which got better towards the end.

T Natarajan – 

He is the leading wicket-taker of the team with 18 wickets to his name. His economy is also on the higher side which is 9.13. Most of his wickets came in the death overs and batters find it hard to play against his slower deliveries. His best came against DC where he took 4 wickets in his 4 overs by giving away just 19 runs. 

Vijayakanth Viyaskanth – 

Currently the main spinner of the team and has taken only 1 wicket in 3 matches. Though his economy is best among other players in the team which is 8.06. But he needs to improve his skill in the wicket-taking department.       

Probable Playing 11 of SRH in Qualifier 2:

Pat Cummins ©, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Abdul Samad, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth. 

Impact Player: Sanvir Singh.

Rajasthan Royals (RR) squad analysis: 

Finally they must be relieved after their win against RCB in the Eliminator, which came after 4 back to back losses. At the start of the season they showed domination by winning matches in a row but towards the end it looked a little distracted from the track. Their brilliance at the start of the season is the reason for their qualification in the Playoffs and they need to carry this performance in the remaining matches. 

Sanju Samson © – 

The leader of the team has been in good touch with the bat after he scored 521 runs in 14 innings. Earlier his average was above 60, but with some low scores in the past few matches took his average to 52.1. He has scored most half-centuries (5) from his team. 

Now he needs to show much stability in his batting as this will be the key match for the team and his guidance is much more important than any other players in the team.   

Yashasvi Jaiswal –

The left hander opener has seen ups and down throughout the season. But the main thing is that he is striking well this season and has a strike rate of 152.33. He has managed 393 runs till now in which one century and one half-century was included. The half-century which he scored came against SRH, which definitely will give a huge boost to him in this match.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore – 

In the absence of Tom got the chance to open along with Yashasvi, but in 2 innings he managed only 38 runs with a strike rate of 100. He needs to be a little more aggressive with his gameplay, which will give a huge boost to the other batters later on in the innings. 

Riyan Parag – 

The top scorer of the team has 567 runs to his credit. In the orange cap list, he is currently in 3rd place. He has four 50+ knocks to his name and among those one of them came against SRH where he scored 77 runs in 49 balls. He also carries the best average in the team this season and is scoring runs with an average of 56.7. His average also dropped down as earlier it was above 60. 

Dhruv Jurel –

The middle order batter of the team has not been so consistent with the bat as he scored only 139 runs in 10 innings. He has only one half-century to his name and that came against LSG where he scored 52 runs. But in the remaining innings he showed a huge disappointment to the team. 

Shimron Hetmyer – 

After missing the last few matches, he made a huge comeback in the Eliminator after scoring brilliant 26 runs in 14 balls. He carries the best strike rate in the team, which is 184.75. He is yet to get a 50+ knock but his valuable contribution in the end has resulted in victory for the team. 

Rovman Powell –     

The other hard hitter Caribbean has guided the team to the victory in the Eliminator after hitting a six. He also was not able to get many chances to bat but his hard hitting ability is known by everyone, which definitely helped the team.  

Ravichandran Ashwin – 

His brilliant bowling performance in the Eliminator got him the award of Player of the Match there. In his 4 overs, he only gave 19 runs and got a wicket of Cameron Green. Though he was not seen in much good rhythm as he only took 9 wickets so far. But his experience will definitely guide the team on the path to the final. 

Yuzvendra Chahal –      

He is currently the leading wicket taker of the team with 18 wickets to his name. At the start of the season he bowled some brilliant spells but after that he was seen mostly expensive in his spells due to which his economy surges to 9.48. He is a constant wicket-taker and needs to do this in the remaining matches to lift the trophy. 

Trent Boult –

The experienced Kiwi has bowled a superb spell against RCB in the Eliminator where in his first 3 overs he only conceded 6 runs. He has 13 wickets to his name till now and has the most wickets to his name in the first over of the IPL. 

Avesh Khan – 

Leading the team in the pace department in terms of wickets as he grabbed 16 wickets till now. He is mostly getting wickets in the death overs and helped to slow down the run rate in the end. 

Sandeep Sharma –

He is that guy in the team who takes the wicket when the team needs it the most. He grabbed 11 wickets till now and is little aggressive in the middle overs.     

Probable Playing 11 of RR  in Qualifier 2:

Sanju Samson (c/wk), Yashasvi Jasiwal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma. 

Impact Player: Yuzvendra Chahal.  

Head to Head (SRH vs RR) in IPL:

They played 19 matches against each other in the IPL so far. 

Pitch Report of SRH vs RR in Qualifier 2:

This match will be played at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. This pitch has witnessed better batting surface than bowling and as a result in this season out of 7 matches 5 matches were won by the chasing team. But there is a possibility that the team batting first might get a win if they are able to pull up 200+ score on the board, then only it will be a tight situation while chasing. Overall chasing might be a better option here after winning the toss.    

Weather Report for the match between SRH vs RR in Qualifier 2:

The weather will be a little cloudy with a 10% chance of raining. Humidity will be quite high which is expected to be around 70%. The temperature will go up by 36 degree celsius during the daytime and it will go down to around 29 degree celsius at night.   

Best 11 players for the match between SRH vs RR  (Qualifier 2): 

Sanju Samson ©, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head (vc), Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Yuzvendra Chahal, Pat Cummins, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan.