Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will be the talking point as Rajasthan Royals face Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday, with sights set on a fifth straight victory in this IPL.
The 15-year-old has lately toyed with reputations with a flurry of boundaries and sixes against world’s leading quicks Jasprit Bumrah (Mumbai Indians) and Josh Hazlewood (RCB) in the Royals’ last two games. So, against the Sunrisers, too, he must be itching to smash the opposition bowling attack in Hyderabad.
To make matters dicey for the Sunrisers, they are also thin on bowling, missing
the services of regular captain Pat Cummins, who is expected to rejoin the franchise
later this week.
In their game against Punjab Kings on Saturday, the Sunrisers — who have one win out of four games yet — never really looked that they could defend the formidable 220-run target. Against a fearless Sooryavanshi then the bowlers could have a more harrowing time.
But they don’t just have Sooryavanshi to be wary of. Yashasvi Jaiswal and No.3 Dhruv Jurel have also been doing a fine job for the Royals this season. However, if promising Vidarbha left-arm spinner Yash Dubey can get his lengths right with variation
of flight and pace, he could create a few problems for the Royals batters.
On the batting front, openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have been doing a pretty decent job for the Sunrisers. But fumble in the middle overs has been making the task tougher for the likes of Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy.
They would have to
be careful, as the Royals’ bowling group has been quite penetrative. If Jofra Archer doesn’t strike early, leg-spinner
Ravi Bishnoi can make matters difficult.