IPL 2024: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals Best Bets

Thursday IPL 2024 action will see a battle of the best batting side and the best bowling side as Sunrisers Hyderabad host Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. This should be an intriguing match-up with their head-to-head record standing at 9 wins apiece. We look at the best bets to take for this game.

Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium

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SRH have had an up-and-down season with five wins and four losses, sitting just three victories away from progressing in the tournament. Returning home after a tough stretch on the road, including a heavy 78-run defeat at Chepauk against Chennai, might offer some comfort despite a recent loss to last-placed RCB in their previous home game.

This season, SRH’s batting has been formidable, averaging 205 runs per game (235 when batting first) and leading the league with a powerplay average of 70.67. They’ve hit over 260 runs three times but struggled to score 170 in their loss to Bengaluru, who posted 206/7 for a solid 35-run victory.

On the other hand, Rajasthan arrives in top form, having dominated recent matchups against SRH, winning five of the last eight head-to-heads. They’ve nearly clinched a playoff berth with consistent performances, including decisive nine and seven-wicket wins in their last two games. In their latest victory, Rajasthan overcame an early setback at 78/3, with Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel partnering for an unbeaten 121-run stand to chase down a challenging 197. Their prowess in chases this season is notable, securing six of their eight wins while batting second, often by comfortable margins.

This is another difficult match to call with both teams playing well this season. Expect a flat surface that will assist both teams’ big hitters, which will tilt the balance slightly in SRH’s favour against RR. Back the underdogs, Sunrisers Hyderabad to win.

Prediction: Sunrisers to win at 2.00

Key Battle: Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson has an outstanding record against Hyderabad, with an average of 49 in H2H matches and a tally of 668 runs. That’s in addition to an overall average of 77 this season. He has a strong record against Sunrisers strike bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has 12 wickets in H2H matches with a best of 4/14. Samson has 118 runs from 89 balls faced against the paceman at an average of nearly 40. 

Key Stats

The average first innings score at this venue since the start of 2023 is 187, though two of the three games this year saw scores of greater than 200.

Hyderabad scored the most powerplay runs in all but one of their nine matches this season. 

Rajasthan struck the most sixes in three of their last four matches.

Sunrisers recorded the highest opening partnership in five of their last six matches.

In all of their matches so far this season, Rajasthan’s top scorer came from the top four of Jaiswal-Buttler-Samson-Parag.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has figures of 1-95 at 10.56rpo at home this season.

Sandeep Sharma returned Rajasthan’s best bowling figures (wickets followed by economy rate) in each of their last two matches, as did Jaydev Unadkat for Hyderabad (sharing the crown with Bhuvneshwar in their most recent game).

T Natajaran averages 38 with the ball at an economy rate of 8.5rpo against Rajasthan’s previous top seven.

Best Bets

Best Bet: Both teams to score 180+ runs at 1.62.

Value Bet: Sanju Samson to be Rajasthan Royals top batter at 4.35.

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