Two inconsistent sides Hyderabad and Rajasthan will face each other in the first doubleheader game of this month in the Indian T20 League 2021.
Match Timings: May 02, 3:30 PM IST
Team Preview
The first weekend-double-header game will be played between Rajasthan and Hyderabad. Both sides had a disappointing season so far. Rajasthan have just one win extra compare to Hyderabad. With poor NRR, both are sitting in the bottom two. Rajasthan suffered a 7-wicket loss to Mumbai, while Hyderabad lost their 5th game of the season against Chennai. Both sides are going through similar issues and one more loss will create more drama in their pursuit of playoffs qualification.
Hyderabad cannot afford a loss here. At the midway of the season, they also changed their captain and Kane will now lead the side. They haven’t missed out the playoffs since 2016 and this year, the story is different. This is the worst start for Hyderabad in any season of the Indian T20 League. With taking only two points from 6 matches, Hyderabad has to bounce back hard to find themselves in the hunt for the playoffs. Warner played a slow knock in the last game and it shows the pressure of the defeats. The Bowling unit is clueless in the absense of Buvi and Natarajan. Pandey and Jadhav both can take charge in middle-order so Hyderabad might be optimistic about their middle-order. Hyderabad picked only two wickets in powerplay and it’s a big concern. Opposition gets the early start and it haunts Hyderabad later in the game. In the previous game, Rashid struck thrice but it was a delayed effort. If the wicket is not coming, Warner has to try Rashid early in the powerplay. Suchith isn’t so convincing with the bowl but they will try him again. Any change is unlikely to happen because too many changes will trouble Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan also have the similar story and I think the same writer writes their campaign story because they play not for the playoffs but for the bottom four. They’re desperately missing Archer and Stokes here but still, they have Morris and Buttler. Morris scalped 11 wickets so far but individual brilliance cannot win you matches. In previous after a fiery start from the openers, they got 171. They could have taken it to 180-190. The batting order was also a big issue. Miller was sent after Dube and Parag were sent before Morris. Rajasthan is not executing their players. They have to give more deliveries to their best players. After 6 games, they have only 4 points and this is not the time for the warm-up. Changes are unexpected and Rajasthan should go ahead with the same playing XI.
Both sides had a good history of thrilling matches. We know how Tewatia and Parag took the game away from Hyderabad last season. Hyderabad have the edge in the last five encounters between two with three wins. Warner’s side is still favourites despite their current form.
Pitch Report
Kotla’s track is good for batting and we haven’t seen any flaw while batting. It’s a decent surface to bat on and spinners might control the runs in middle-overs. 170-180 would be a competitive total on this surface.
Possible XI
Rajasthan
Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Shivam Dube, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Chris Morris, Jaydev Unadkat, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman
Hyderabad
David Warner/Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Kane Williamson(c), Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, Jagadeesha Suchith, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul
Key Players
Rajasthan
Sanju Samson
Consistent from last 2-3 games, 229 runs at an avg of 45.80
Jos Buttler
Looked promising good on this track, 41 in last game, might score big
Hyderabad
Jonny Bairstow
218 runs so far, top-scorer for Hyderabad
Kane Williamson
Promising knocks in last two games, the standout performer for Hyderabad
