Kane Williamson, SunRisers Hyderabad captain, won the toss and opted to bowl against Rajasthan Royals in their first match in IPL 2022 on Tuesday at the MCA Stadium in Pune. This is the first game at the MCA Stadium.
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For SRH, Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi will open the innings while captain Williamson will come in at No. 3. Youngsters Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad and Washington Sundar have made the middle order. The bowling attack is comprised of Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan and Umran Malik, who will be closely watched for his ability to generate sheer pace.
RR, on the other hand, got a star-studded batting attack, with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler opening the innings. Devdutt Padikkal, who opened the innings for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPl 2021, will come at No. 3. Captain Sanju Samson, talented youngster Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag have made the middle order for RR. The bowling attack is spearheaded by Trent Boult and experienced spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Nathan Coulter-Nile, Yuzvendra Chahal and Prasidh Krishna are other big names in the XI.
What did the captains say?
Kane Williamson: The grass is short and potential dew factor…. Most of the team has been there for a week or ten days. Amazing so much knowledge to tap into from Steyn, Murali, Lara.
Sanju Samson: Seven of us are making debuts for the franchise. Our internationals are Jos, Hetmyer, Trent Boult and Coulter-Nile. We’ve played a lot of games in the same month of the year and there’s some grass on this pitch.
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Pitch report: The pitch at MCA stadium has green patches. Pacers will get a good amount of help with the new ball. There is a fair amount of wind that keeps blowing, so dew might not be a factor. Chasing teams don’t have an advantage here and that makes things interesting.
Playing XI
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna
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Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Kane Williamson(c), Nicholas Pooran(w), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik
