The Rajasthan Royals (RR) will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013 second Playoff match - the eliminator - at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi on Wednesday. The winner of the match will play against Mumbai Indians, the loser of the qualifier 1, to qualify for the final against Chennai Super Kings, while the loser of the contest will be knocked out of the tournament.
Overview:
The teams won one game each in their two meetings this season with RR winning the first encounter by eight wickets and SRH winning the second game by 23 runs. Knowing that the loser of the match will be knocked out of the competition, both the teams will be eager to win on Wednesday.
RR are placed in the third position with 22 points. They come into the contest at the back of defeat to SRH. They are sort of a dark horse, performing consistently well throughout the tournament despite not many big names.
SRH pulled up a convincing win against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the last match of the league stage to move ahead of Royal Challengers Bangalore and qualify for the Playoffs. Their confidence will be high having won back-to-back matches before coming into the contest.
Previous Meetings:
The teams have met twice in the IPL and won one game each.
Team News:
Rajasthan Royals: Shane Watson is one man to watch out for because he can not only hit big but also demoralize bowlers with his batting exploits. He scored 98 against SRH in one of their encounters this season. He will be expected to put up a similar show in the eliminator.
Skipper Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane have turned into a good opening pair. A good start from them will provide room for Sanju Samson, Stuart Binny and Brad Hodge to add some quick runs towards the end.
James Faulkner, who picked up a five-wicket haul in both matches against SRH this season, will be the cynosure of all eyes. He will be expected to give a similar show and demolished the batting line-up of the SRH. They also have Kevon Cooper, Pravin Tambe, Watson, Binny, Hodge and Siddharth Trivedi in the bowling attack.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Top order - Parthiv Patel, Shikhar Dhawan, Hanuma Vihari and Cameron White - have performed well in a few matches though their consistency is a worry. They should give a good start in the eliminator and let the likes of Biplab Samantray and Darren Sammy add some quick runs on the board.
The credit for pushing the team through to the Playoffs should go to the bowlers. Dale Steyn, Karan Sharma, Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra have performed well, helping the team defend even low totals. They will be expected to carry the form into the next match.
Prediction:
SRH have stronger bowling attack while RR have better batting line-up. Wednesday's match will be a tight one but RR are expected to come out victorious.
Squads:
Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Menaria, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Dishant Yagnik, Fidel Edwards, Harmeet Singh, James Faulkner, Kevon Cooper, Kumar Boresha, Kushal Janith Perera, Owais Shah, Pravin Tambe, Rahul Shukla, Sachin Baby, Samuel Badree, Sanju Samson, Shane Watson, Shaun Tait, Shreevats Goswami, Siddharth Trivedi, Stuart Binny, Vikramjeet Malik
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kumar Sangakkara (C), Akshath Reddy, Amit Mishra, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Biplap Samantray, Cameron White, Chris Lynn, Dale Steyn, Darren Sammy, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Hanuma Vihari, Ishant Sharma, Karan Sharma, Nathan McCullum, Parthiv Patel, Prasanth Padmanabhan, Quinton de Kock, Sachin Rana, Shikhar Dhawan, Sudeep Tyagi, Thalaivan Sargunam, Thisara Perera, Veer Pratap Singh
Where to Watch Live
The match will begin at 8:00 pm IST and will be telecast live on Sony Set Max channel.
