HYDERABAD: Stung by back-to-back losses, Sunrisers Hyderabad will be keen to get back to winning ways against table-toppers Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday.
The 2016 champions went down to Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 35 runs and suffered an embarrassing 78-run loss to Chennai Super Kings- chasing down 206 and 213, respectively.
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As the race for the playoffs intensifies, the Pat Cummins-led side, who are now fifth in points table with 10 points, need to bring their 'A' game against the Royals.
While setting up totals has been their strong suit, Sunrisers seem to come unstuck batting second. Cummins wants his team to polish their skills in that aspect.
Opener Travis Head has not fired in the last two games and a big score from the Australian opener, who tops the batting charts for his side with 338 runs, will help SRH.
Abhishek Sharma also needs to be consistency as a lot depends on the start these two provide.
The fragile middle-order consisting of Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Abdul Samad stood exposed in the last two games. The dip in Klaasen's form (20, 7, 15 in last three outings) compounded their woes.
T Natarajan (13 wickets) has been the pick of the bowlers but the rest have all gone over nine runs per over.
In contrast, the Royals have been on a roll. With 16 points in their kitty, they are almost assured of a playoff spot. Captain Sanju Samson (385) has led from the front while Riyan Parag (332), Jos Buttler (319) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (249) have all struck form.
Jaiswal, who struggled initially, slammed a century against Mumbai Indians, adding more firepower to the batting unit. Yuzvendra Chahal has been impressive with 13 scalps while Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma have produced good results with the new ball.
Royals are coming into this match with a seven-wicket win over LSG and a nine-wicket thrashing of MI and would like to extend their purple patch.
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