Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals Prediction

The 3^rd ranked team of the IPL 2013, Rajasthan Royals, will clash with the fourth one on the table, Sunrisers Hyderabad, in their opening encounter. Both teams won 10 out of 16 games in the 6^th edition but the first was placed higher because of the net run rate. Shane Watson who was the ‘Player of the series’ last year, will lead the RR troops whereas the dashing opener, Shikhar Dhawan, will be the skipper of the Sunrisers Hayderabad. A tough and interesting fight is being anticipated since both teams will enter the event with great enthusiasm.

Players to watch

Shane Watson is the loyal member of the Rajasthan Royals ever since the inception of the IPL and will try to maintain his previous record. The 19-year-old Sanju Samson will boost the batting line up along with Ajinkya Rahane and the all rounder James Faulkner. The bowling department will be looked after by Kevon Cooper, Iqbal Abdulla and the experienced Tim Southee.

The captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Shikhar Dhawan, is going through a lean period since he did not perform well in the ICC World T20, 2014, but he is a great asset for the team. Aaron Finch carries 2 hundreds and 21 fifties under his belt in Twenty20 whereas David Warner can give a rising start to his team. The presence of the deadly new ball duo, Dale Steyn and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, will give them an edge while Amit Mishra was among the best bowlers of the T20 World Cup.

Time & Venue

Friday, April 18, 2014 @ 14:30 GMT, 18:30 local at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Weather

A clear day with temperatures around 25-36ᵒC

Toss

The winner to field first

The Pitch

A nice track for batting

Teams

Rajasthan Royals – Shane Watson (C), Amit Mishra, Ankit Sharma, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Stuart Binny, Unmukt Chand, Kevon Cooper, Ben Cutting, James Faulkner, Brad Hodge, Deepak Hooda, Iqbal Abdulla, Dhawal Kulkarni, Vikramjeet Malik, Karun Nair, Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane, Kane Richardson, Sanju Samson, Steven Smith, Tim Southee, Pravin Tambe, Rahul Tewatia, Dishant Yagnik.

Sunrisers Hyderabad – Shikhar Dhawan (C), Srikkanth Anirudha, Ashish Reddy, Ricky Bhui, Aaron Finch, Moises Henriques, Jason Holder, Manpreet Juneja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Chama Milind, Amit Mishra, Naman Ojha, Prasant Parameswaran, Parvez Rasool, Irfan Pathan, Amit Paunikar, Lokesh Rahul, Darren Sammy, Ishant Sharma, Karn Sharma, Dale Steyn, Brendan Taylor, Venugopal Rao, David Warner.

Prediction

Sunrisers Hyderabad looks like winning the opener