IPL 2024: Sunrisers Hyderabad power-hitters vs Rajasthan Royals spin; Battle for final berth

Chennai: IPL's best power-hitters Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma will face a very different challenge in wily spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin when Sunrisers Hyderabad take on Rajasthan Royals in a high-octane second Qualifier in Chennai on Friday.

'Travishek' as the duo is affectionately called by the fans have taken power-hitting to a new level. Head (533 runs at 199.62) and Abhishek (470 at 207.04) have hit 72 sixes apart from 96 boundaries between them.

If that's not enough, they have a swashbuckler in Heinrich Klaasen (413 runs at 180), who also has 34 maximums to his credit.

But playing on an Uppal shirtfront that resembled a national highway or at the Kotla or Wankhede is completely from playing at the Chepauk where the strip will be sticky in nature.

The ball stops and stroke-makers do have a tough time when it comes to hitting through the line.

Ashwin, who has played all his cricket at this ground, knows the strip like the back of his hand and his form has improved towards the back-end of the tournament.

With the country's best leg-spinner Chahal for company, Royals would be hoping that Head, Abhishek and Klaasen can be disposed off quickly to gain control of the proceedings.

As for their bowling, the onus would once again be on T Natarajan, who has been SRH's top wicket-taker this season, and playing on his home turf here, he would love to exploit the conditions.

Also, the experienced duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Cummins have a lot to deal with as the former has been wicket-less in his last two games.

SRH's problems lie in not having two quality spinners. Mayank Markande is mediocre at best and Shahbaz Ahmed's primary skill is willow-wielding, not bowling slow left-arm orthodox tweakers.

As for RR, the side finally ended its five-game winless streak, thanks to its all-round show against RCB.

In batting, the top-order displayed some positive signs, especially Yashasvi Jaiswal, and he would love to continue the form ahead of the T20 World Cup in the Americas next month.

However, skipper Sanju Samson will have to do better, given that he hasn't crossed the 20-run mark in the last three contests. Agencies

IPL 2024

Leading run getters:

                                                         MAT            RUNS          HS               AVG             SR               100              50               

1 Virat Kohli                                      15                741              113*             61.75           154.69         1                  5

2 Ruturaj Gaikwad                            14                583              108*             53.00           141.16         1                  4

3 Riyan Parag                                  15                567              84*               56.70           151.60         0                  4

4 Travis Head                                  13                533              102              44.41           199.62         1                  4

5 Sai Sudharsan                               12                527              103              47.90           141.28         1                  2

6 Sanju Samson                               15                521              86                52.10           155.52         0                  5

7 KL Rahul                                       14                520              82                37.14           136.12         0                  4

8 Nicholas Pooran                            14                499              75                62.37           178.21         0                  3

9 Sunil Narine                                   14                482              109              37.07           179.85         1                  3

10 Abhishek Sharma    14                470              75*               36.15           207.04         0                  3

Leading wicket takers:

                                        MAT            OV               RUNS          WKTS          3-FORS      AVG             ECON        

1 Harshal Patel                14                49                477              24                4                  19.87           9.73            

2 Jasprit Bumrah              13                51.5             336              20                3                  16.80           6.48            

3 Varun Chakaravarthy14                   48                393              20                3                  19.65           8.18            

4 Arshdeep Singh            14                50.2             505              19                1                  26.57           10.03          

5 T Natarajan                  12                46.2             423              18                2                  23.50           9.12            

6 Yuzvendra Chahal 14  54                512              18                1                  28.44           9.48            

7 Tushar Deshpande13  48                424              17                2                  24.94           8.83            

8 Harshit Rana                12                38.1             359              17                2                  21.11           9.40            

9 Khaleel Ahmed             14                50                479              17                0                  28.17           9.58            

10 Mukesh Kumar           10                35.3             368              17                3                  21.64           10.36

Also Read: Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024: Abhishek, Klaasen power Sunrisers Hyderabad to four-wicket win over Punjab Kings

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