The second qualifier of IPL 2024 is going to be an exciting affair as you have two fantastic teams  in a sort of semifinal position. These two teams have played excellent cricket in the league stages  and have collected their wins in their own different ways. RR, for me, was the best side of the  tournament right from the start. You look at their strengths and can say three words for it:  strategic, thoughtful, experienced. On the other hand, SRH, to me, are fun, instinctive and flair.  They played their cricket slightly differently. You can see a nice matchup there between these  two sides. 

RR had a poor run in the last phase of the group stage which they ended in the Eliminator with a  win over RCB. I have said it before in my articles that sometimes I think RR overcomplicate  things. They overthink some decisions. They got a little tentative with their approach in the last  few games and hence, began a losing streak. Having said that, they look back on track and I will  stick to calling them the best side of the tournament, irrespective of where they finished in the  league stage. 

As I said in my last article for SRH, if they get to a 30 for 3 or 30 for 4 kinds of start with the bat,  it will be a huge challenge for them to recover from this position. That is my big question mark  on them. Some sides relied quite heavily on their top order and SRH are one of them. 

RR had to deal with the loss of Jos Buttler who returned to national duty before playoffs. His are  big shoes to fill. I am a huge fan of Tom Kohler-Cadmore who replaced Buttler at the top. I have  seen a lot of him in English conditions. He is a hugely talented lad and don’t be surprised if he  has a good game. Boy can hit the ball hard and long. He does fly under the radar because he has  not represented England in international cricket but in a different era, he could have been part of  the national side. 

Yashasvi Jaiswal has been simmering this season with the bat. He is trying to find his best form.  He has surely given signs that he can still make a major impact in the game. Sanju Samson and  Riyan Parag have had a good season. Hopes will be pinned on them once again in this do-or-die  tie. 

The biggest lift for RR in recent games has been Ashwin. He had his share of struggles this  season. He turned out to be the Player of the Match for them in the Eliminator. His good form is  a huge boost for RR. Think he is fitter now as he does not seem to be carrying any niggles. It was  pretty evident in his good show in the Eliminator that he was fit, and hungry to win. 

I will reiterate that RR are the most balanced side in the tournament. They have plenty of match winners in each department. I know Yuzvendra Chahal has not had an outstanding tournament  but he along with Ashwins and Boults are big match players.  

Boult with the new ball will be exciting to watch against Travis Head. We saw how left-arm  pacers in Arshdeep Singh and Mitchell Starc got rid of Head in the last two games. Head has had  a problem recently with left-armers and Boult will try and exploit this visible weakness, taking a leaf out of Arshdeep and Starc’s books to attack Head straightaway. This is an interesting  matchup. 

RR also have firepower deep down the batting order in form of Rovman Powell, who played a  good knock vs RCB. Royals have a fantastic squad at the helm with all bases covered. But if  there is one side in this competition who can beat them even if RR brings their A game, it is  SRH. 

SRH have been quite fun to watch this season and I am sure the players too enjoyed playing the  brand of cricket they have played. I think over the course of the tournament, SRH players have  surprised the fans with their performance. They have constantly raised the bar. They have done  

the extraordinary throughout the competition and there is no reason why they cannot do that  again on Friday night. 

Head will be itching to get back in form. He is a big match player and if he fires, the opponents  are under massive pressure instantly. Abhishek Sharma complimented him well. T Natarajan,  Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Cummins have been excellent. The only weakness that SRH has is  they do not have any threatening spinner. Viyaskanth has only just come into the side and  Shahbaz Ahmed has not done much too with the ball. That is why RR are a more complete side  than SRH. 

Sunrisers will be reliant on their big players in the qualifier. There will be everything to play for  on Friday. My gut feeling is that RR are a better side, on paper, as they have got the best balance  among the two sides. But they are against the most stylish, instinctive side in the competition. If  SRH have a good day, it could be theirs.