Sunrisers Hyderabad will lock horns against the previous season’s runners-up Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on April 2nd. Both teams will be looking to make a winning start to their campaign in the 16th season of Tata IPL.
We look at the current form, head-to-head, players to look out for, and squads of both teams in our match preview.
The Orange Army will be led by Aiden Markram, who must have grown in confidence after leading Sunrisers Eastern Cape to glory in SA20. However, Markram will miss the opening game due to national commitment and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead in his absence.
Rajasthan Royals were able to tick the right boxes in the previous season of the league as they had qualified for the finals. However, the Sanju Samson suffered a loss against Gujarat Titans in the summit clash.
It will be interesting to note how both teams will make use of the Impact player rule, which has been introduced in IPL 2023. Teams will also name their final XI after the toss.
Head to Head: Matches: 16, Won by RR: 8, Won by SRH: 8.
Both teams have won eight matches against one another.
Players to watch out for: Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Harry Brook, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Washington Sundar, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be the crucial players for SRH.
Jos Buttler (wk), Sanju Samson, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, and Yuzvendra Chahal will hold the key for RR.
SRH IPL 2023 SQUAD
Wicketkeepers: Glenn Phillips (NZ), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Upendra Singh Yadav, Heinrich Klaasen (SA).
Batters: Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram (SA), Rahul Tripathi, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Harry Brook (ENG).
All-rounders: Abhishek Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mayank Dagar, Sanvir Singh, Samarth Vyas, Vivrant Sharma.
Bowlers: Fazalhaq Farooqi (AFG), Marco Jansen (SA), Kartik Tyagi, Bhuveshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan, Umran Malik, Akeal Hosein (WI), Mayank Markande, Adil Rashid (ENG).
RR IPL 2023 SQUAD
Wicketkeepers: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler (ENG), Dhruv Jurel, Kunal Rathore, Donovan Ferreira (SA).
Batters: Shimron Hetmyer (WI), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Joe Root (ENG).
All-rounders: Ravichandran Ashwin, Abdul P A, Akash Vashisht, Jason Holder (WI).
Bowlers: Trent Boult (NZ), KC Cariappa, Yuzvendra Chahal, Obed McCoy (WI), Sandeep Sharma, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, Murugan Ashwin, Adam Zampa (AUS), KM Asif.
