Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad have one thing in common: winning the IPL title once. Now with both teams undergoing makeovers ahead of IPL 2022, one can feel that both teams have the firepower and chinks in their armour to make a case for winning the trophy for the second time.
We have a look at how these two teams look ahead of their tournament opener on Tuesday:-
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Strength
There's no doubt that Hyderabad has one of the most exciting bowling attacks in the competition. Bhuvneshwar Kumar will begin things with the new ball, Umran Malik adds the searing pace angle and T. Natarajan, after his knee troubles, should get things going with his ability to bowl yorkers at will.
Then there's Marco Jansen, the South Africa left-arm pace all-rounder whose stock in the Test cricket has been rising. Kartik Tyagi, with the exuberance of youth, is the one to watch out for too so as Afghanistan's Fazalhaq Farooqui.
In the spin department, Washington Sundar is a reliable option with his off-spin.
Weakness
Though Hyderabad have good overseas batters in captain Kane Williamson, Glenn Phillips, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran and Romario Shepherd, they could be found wanting in the finishing department as well as the Indian batters. Despite acquiring the services of Rahul Tripathi, Hyderabad have to ensure that their Indian batters, mainly Abhishek Sharma, Priyam Garg and all-rounder Abdul Samad, are given clarity of their roles.
Opportunity
In the second half of IPL 2021 in the UAE, Hyderabad unearthed a gem in pacer Umran Malik. With his raw pace, Malik wowed everyone and it was good enough for him to earn a place as a net bowler for Indian team in Men's T20 World Cup. Since then, Malik turned out for India A, got retained by Hyderabad ahead of mega auction and more frequently for Jammu and Kashmir in domestic cricket. IPL 2022 gives Malik ample time to showcase his full potential as a tearaway pacer.
Threat
With IPL 2022 happening in four venues means spinners will come into play in later stages. Hyderabad don't have a high-quality leg-spinner option ever since Rashid Khan left. They have an Indian option, but Karnataka's Shreyas Gopal hasn't been a regular for his previous team, Rajasthan Royals, in the last two seasons.
Rajasthan Royals
Strength
The wealth of experience in their Indian as well as overseas picks from an IPL perspective. Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal are joined by Shimron Hetmyer, Rassie van der Dussen and Devdutt Padikkal.
They have boosted their spin department by picking Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin. In their fast-bowling department, they have got Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Navdeep Saini. They also have decent all-rounders in James Neesham, Daryl Mitchell and Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Weakness
The weakness for Rajasthan may lie in deciding their finisher in the batting line-up. Seeing Neesham and Coulter-Nile as finishers may not be the ideal scenario Rajasthan would have thought of. Moreover, if Padikkal bats at three, how he pans out will depend on his batting approach post-powerplay, which hasn't been convincing. Also, Rajasthan need to sort their bowling combination for the last five overs as they don't have any specialist bowler for that phase.
Opportunity
Chance for Yashasvi Jaiswal to establish himself as one of the best left-handed young openers in the T20 format. Jaiswal, picked by the franchise after his heroics for India in Men's U19 World Cup 2020, took some time to impress IPL watchers. But, after becoming a retained player ahead of mega auction, Jaiswal will be itching to justify Rajasthan's faith in him.
Threat
The dynamic batting line-up of Rajasthan can cause other teams to be a bit wary of them while bowling.
Source : IANS