Two shaky sides Rajasthan and Hyderabad will lock horns in the do-die clash on Thursday in Indian T20 League 2020.
Match Timings: Oct 22, 7:30 PM
Team Preview
The late success of Punjab made the second half more interesting. After a series of failures in the first half, Hyderabad and Rajasthan find themselves in a tough zone where every game is a do-die clash. With a 7-wickets victory over Chennai, Rajasthan found the rythum and they need to extend the run for the remainder. Hyderabad is also their big rivals in the journey to the playoffs. The top-order didn’t work for Rajasthan but it was Buttler and Smith who showed a sensible approach to avoid heartbreak in a low-scoring chase. The bowling unit is giving a positive sign as their two spinners Tewatia and Gopal are doing an excellent job in middle-overs. Samson’s form is a big worrying sign for them but they cannot drop him. Rajasthan has previously defeated Hyderabad, thanks to a match-winning stand from Tewatia and Parag.
Meanwhile, the super over defeat to Kolkata created a big tension in Hyderabad camp as they lost three consecutive games. From 3 wins out of six, they now have 3 out of 9. It means the playoffs ticket is in waiting and they need to play out of their skin to overcome the Rajasthan task. Warner sent Williamson at the top and tried himself at down-order but he couldn’t finish the game. In T20s, chasing sides suffer most when the game goes into the super over. The top-order is balanced and in middle, they have Williamson to guide. Abdul Samad impressed in the previous game so he would be retained. The death-bowling is also a big issue as Morgan-Karthik added more than 50 runs in last 4 overs. Natarajan is crucial at death but on the other, there is a vacuum. Rashid Khan is impactful in middle-overs but he cannot win you matches every day. Hyderabad has a good advantage with their positive net run-rate which can help them to go through but to gain this advantage, they have to win matches now.
Pitch Report
Dubai’s surface is a bit slow and helpful to the batsmen. Pacers are taking advantage from the pitch. Spinners control runs in the middle and later, the ball comes slightly slow due to the sluggish behaviour of the track. Chasing might be a tricky call but both sides can try chasing rather than batting first in this do-die game.
Possible XI
Rajasthan
Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson (wk), Steven Smith (c), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot, Kartik Tyagi
Hyderabad
David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan, Basil Thampi/Khaleel Ahmed
Key Players
Rajasthan
Jos Buttler
This season – M: 9, Runs: 262, Avg: 32.75, SR: 143.95
Jofra Archer
This season – M: 10, W: 13, Avg: 20.61, Eco: 6.75
Hyderabad
David Warner
This season – M: 9, Runs: 331, Avg: 41.37, SR: 124.43
Rashid Khan
This season – M: 9, W: 11, Avg: 18.09, Eco: 5.52
