The 5th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 will be played between, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the MCA stadium in Pune. Both the teams have won one title each and will be eyeing to win another one this season. These two teams witnessed a forgettable outing in 2021, as they finished in the last two positions on the points table. Sanju Samson will continue to lead the Rajasthan Royals this season as well.
The Royals have revamped their squad after three retentions followed by some outstanding additions at the auction. They have Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, and Shimron Hetmyer as some fiery batters in their squad. Ravi Ashwin, Chahal, and KC Cariappa will be handling the spin department. The pace battery includes Trent Boult, Navdeep Saini, Nathan Coulter Nile, and Prasidh Krishna.
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For SRH, they have harnessed a new team under Kane Williamson. Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, and Kane will be strengthening their batting. Marco Jansen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Natarajan, Umran Mallik, and Kartik Tyagi will lead the pace attack followed by Shreyas Gopal and Washington Sundar being the lead spinners. Indian talents like Abdul Samad, Priyam Garg, and Abhishek Sharma can also prove to be effective here.
These two teams have met a total of 15 times in the IPL, where Hyderabad won 8 matches while Rajasthan has managed to win 7 games. Both the teams do look quite solid and energetic on paper, only time will tell if they can convert those into performances. Ahead of the key clash at the MCA in Pune, we take a look at the three key player battles to watch out for.
#1 Kane Williamson vs Trent Boult
Kane Williamson and Trent Boult have faced each other countless times during practice for their national side. However, in IPL 2022, the friendly rivalry will reach a different level when the two of them face off in Pune. Williamson will be aware of what his southpaw left-arm countrymate brings to the table.
Whereas, the latter will be wary of his national skipper’s solid technique and ability to accelerate. Boult had a rather quiet IPL 202, picking up 13 wickets in his last outing for the Mumbai Indians. He will be hoping for a better evening and eventually a better season with his new franchise.
#2 Yuzvendra Chahal vs Aiden Markram
Aiden Markram was one of the most impressive additions to Punjab in IPL 2021 and will now don the Orange for Hyderabad in IPL 2022. He will be up against a wily customer in Yuzvendra Chahal, who will now be plying his trade for Rajasthan. Chahal finished with 18 wickets last season for Royal Challengers Bangalore and will be eager to get back into his groove by weaving a web around the Sunrisers.
#3 Jos Buttler vs T. Natarajan
SRH kept their faith in Tamil Nadu pacer, T. Natarajan. They bagged him again during the IPL 2022 Auction despite his prolonged absence last season after an injury. Jos Buttler is one of the most destructive batters in the shortest format of the game and was instrumental in contributing with the bat for the Royals in the last edition. His bat speed and swing against Natarajan’s searing and accurate yorkers will be a mouth-watering contest.
