IPL 2024 Qualifier 2: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals Best Bets

Qualifier 2 of IPL 2024 will see Sunrisers Hyderabad take on Rajasthan Royals at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday. SRH and RR finished second and third on the table respectively and will be looking to book a spot in Sunday’s final against KKR.

Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium

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Cricket fans and punters are eagerly anticipating another nail-biter like their last encounter on May 2 in Hyderabad, where Hyderabad snatched a one-run victory defending 201, despite Rajasthan being well-placed at 135/2. Heroes of that day, Cummins (2/34) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/41), alongside T Natarajan who took 3/55 in his recent outings, are key for Hyderabad as they’ve been crucial wicket-takers this season.

However, Qualifier 1 highlighted Hyderabad’s major flaw: their expensive bowling. With the highest league economy rate of 10.26 runs per over, their success often hinged on strong starts from openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, who have recently struggled, each falling for 15 or fewer in most of their last several innings.

Rajasthan Royals, despite a higher ranking, faced Bengaluru as underdogs in Ahmedabad’s Eliminator in front of 87,000 spectators. Returning from injury, Shimron Hetmyer played a pivotal role, exploiting the shorter boundary in the late overs to secure a win with one over to spare. 

With morale restored, star bowler Ravichandran Ashwin acknowledged some earlier struggles but noted a resurgence in team spirit. The management faces a tactical decision on whether to introduce spinner Keshav Maharaj on Chennai’s spin-friendly pitch, balancing economy rates and bowling averages between spinners and seamers.

This will be a tough game for both sides, but RR will hold the advantage with their spinners on a spinner-friendly track in Chennai. Back Rajasthan Royals to win this game.

Prediction: Rajasthan Royals to win at 2.05.

Key Battles: After a couple of quiet games, Rajasthan fast bowler Avesh Khan has found some wicket-taking form again with 2/28 and 3/44 in his last two outings, which has seen him overtake Trent Boult to be Rajasthan’s second-leading wicket-taker for the season. Captain Sanju Samson may wish to deploy him early: he has outstanding records against both Sunrisers openers Travis Head (2/25) and Abhishek Sharma (2/2) as part of his figures of 7-103 against Hyderabad’s last top seven. 

Key Stats

Sunrisers Hyderabad have the second-worst record (W1, L9) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium of any current franchise. Rajasthan’s (W2, L7) is the third worst.

The average first innings score in Chennai since the start of the 2023 IPL is 173.

Five of the seven IPL 2024 games played in Chennai were won by the chasing team. 

Nobody outside of Rajasthan’s top four has posted the team’s top score in 2024.

Sunrisers struck the most powerplay runs in 11 of their 14 games so far.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar came into this match averaging a hefty 49.67 (7/298) in all T20s against Rajasthan’s last top-seven batters.

Heinrich Klaasen clubbed 108 runs from the 46 balls he faced from Yuzvendra Chahal before this match (avg 36, 14.09rpo).

Best Bet: Highest individual score to be under 74.5 at 1.90.

Value Bet: Riyan Parag to score 50+ runs at 3.50.

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