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The fourth match of the ongoing Indian Premier League will witness Sunrisers Hyderabad take on last year’s losing finalists, Rajasthan Royals, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday, April 2.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad will be taking on one of the pre-tournament favourites without the influential Aiden Markram, who is currently on national duty for South Africa. Veteran India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the Orange Army in their campaign opener against Rajasthan Royals.
Apart from the South African dasher, Sunrisers will also have to do without the services of Marco Jansen and Heinrich Klaasen for their first match of the tournament.
However, they won’t be short of firepower as they still have two of the world’s most destructive batters in Harry Brook and Glenn Phillips at their disposal. Adil Rashid, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Akeal Hosein also boost their bowling line-up.
Meanwhile, their opponents, Rajasthan Royals, will be looking to get past last year’s disappointing loss in the finale with a victory in their first encounter. Unlike their opposition, Royals have got all their big names ready to go against Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, they were dealt a severe blow ahead of IPL 2023 after Indian pacer Prasidh Krishna was ruled out of the tournament due to an injury.
The former KKR man was in his elements last year and played a pivotal role in Royal’s run through to the final, scalping 19 wickets in 17 matches. Although his absence will be felt by the Men in Pink this year, Royals haven’t signed experienced speedster Sandeep Sharma, who wasn’t able to find a team at the IPL 2023 auction.
Jos Buttler, who led England to their second T20 World Cup title last year, will be looking to replicate his heroics with the bat this year as well. He was at his best in IPL 2022 and claimed the Orange Cap after finishing as the leading run-scorer of the tournament. It proposes to be a good watch for the viewers, with Sanju Samson’s side being slight favourites as they are almost at their full strength.
