IPL 8: Rajasthan Royals eye playoff berth against Sunrisers Hyderabad

 

With 14 points from 11 games, a win will help them make the cut before they set off to play an away encounter against table toppers Chennai Super Kings on Sunday. The Royals outplayed Delhi Daredevils in all the departments in their last home game at the picturesque ground here. The game also ended their streak of five games without a win. In-form Ajinkya Rahane became the first batsman to go past the 400-run mark this season during the course of his unbeaten 91 against Delhi Daredevils. 

 

The Royals must be encouraged by the performances of young Indian batsmen Karun Nair and Sanju Samson. The duo scored half-centuries in their last two games respectively. 

Incidentally, the failure of Indian batsmen has been the biggest problem area for Sunrisers. Barring openers David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan, others have not done anything of note. Like Delhi Daredevils’ skipper J.P. Duminy, Sunrisers’ captain Waner has set an example by scoring 382 runs in nine games with a rich average of 42. 

 

However, wicketkeeper batsman Naman Ojha (127 runs), Ashish Reddy (56 runs in four innings) and Hanuma Vihari (39 runs in four games) have let the team down. Lokesh Rahul (100 runs in six innings) has been in and out of the side. South African speedster Dale Steyn has struggled to get his rhythm right and that has baffled many. Steyn, who was below his best in the 2015 World Cup, is yet to set the IPL stage on fire. He has just three wickets to his credit from four games with an economy rate of 8.40. Fortunately, Sunrisers have another quality pacer in Trent Boult, who has taken over the responsibility of leading the attack. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has once been impressive with his mentor Praveen Kumar, who has bowled effectively at the death. The Sunrisers need to fire in unison to make sure their hopes of a play-off spot are not dashed.