SRH vs RR: Under stand-in captain Bhuvneshwar, Sunrisers Hyderabad faces Samson’s Rajasthan Royals

In the absence of Aiden Markram, Bhuvenshwar Kumar will be the stand-in skipper as Sunrisers Hyderabad opens its campaign against Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar addresses the media ahead Sunrisers Hyderabad opening match against Rajasthan Royals. | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

Two former champions, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals, will look to start the fresh season of Tata IPL on a winning note when they clash at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium (Uppal) on what looks to be a perfect batting strip here on Sunday afternoon.

With captain Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen not available for the opener, the seasoned Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead Sunrisers.

Last year’s runner-up, Royals, will bank on Jos Buttler and Yuzvendra Chahal, winners of the Orange and the Purple caps, respectively in the 2022 edition.

Royals also have the highly promising duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal too complement Buttler at the top of the order. Captain Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetymer add further explosive power to the side.

In bowling, the crafty R. Ashwin should be the one to watch out in the company of a pace battery that comprises Trent Boult, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma and Obed McCoy.

On the other hand, Sunrisers’ hopes hinge around the form of the batters. The newly-signed overseas pair of Harry Brook and Glen Phillips will be particulary important along with the experienced Mayank Agarwal.

In its bowling armoury, Sunrisers enjoy depth and variety in the form of Adil Rashid, Kartik Tyagi, Bhubaneswar, Umran Malik, T. Natarajan, and all-rounder Washington Sundar who are all capable of testing batters.

SQUADS

SRH: Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kartik Tyagi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen, Adil Rashid, Mayank Markande, Vivrant Sharma, Samarth Vyas, Sanvir Singh, Upendra Yadav, Mayank Dagar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Akeal Hosein, Anmolpreet Singh.

RR: Sanju Samson (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Jos Buttler, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Prasidh Krishna, Trent Boult, Obed McCoy, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, KC Cariappa, Jason Holder, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Adam Zampa, KM Asif, Murugan Ashwin, Akash Vashisht, Abdul P A, Joe Root.