SRH vs RR, IPL 2024 Qualifier 2: Fantasy 11 Prediction, teams, captain, vice-captain, toss and venue analysis (2024)

It will be a battle of two teams chasing their second title in the Indian Premier League as the Rajasthan Royals will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday. The latter after having their last four group matches finally found their groove against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first Eliminator on Wednesday after registering a hard-fought win by four wickets while chasing 172 runs on the board.

On the other hand, the Sunrisers Hyderabad were denied a finals berth by the Kolkata Knight Riders in Qualifier 1 after a disappointing performance in the batting unit as their stalwarts Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, and Heinrich Klassen failed to make the cut. As the former champions compete in their one last chance in the penultimate clash of the tournament, they’ll look to revive their batting sting against the Royals.

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RR likely XI (if batting first)

Openers: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore

Batters: Sanju Samson (c/wk), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Rovman Powell, Shimron Hetmyer

All-rounders: Ravichandran Ashwin

Bowlers: Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma, Avesh Khan

RR likely XI (if bowling first)

Openers: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore

Batters: Sanju Samson (c/wk), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Rovman Powell

All-rounders: Ravichandran Ashwin

Bowlers: Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal

Impact Players: Yuzvendra Chahal, Shimron Hetmyer, Donowan Ferreira, Tanush Kotiyan

SRH likely XI (if batting first)

Openers: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head

Batters: Rahul Tripathi, Heinrich Klaasen, Abdul Samad

All-rounders: Nitish Kumar Reddy, Sanvir Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed

Bowlers: Pat Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Vijaykanth Viyaskanth

SRH likely XI (if bowling first)

Openers: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head

Batters: Rahul Tripathi, Heinrich Klaasen, Abdul Samad

All-rounders: Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed

Bowlers: Pat Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Vijaykanth Viyaskanth, T Natarajan

Impact Players: T. Natarajan, Sanvir Singh, Jaydev Unadkat, Umran Malik

Player Statistics (Rajasthan Royals)

Riyan Parag

RR’s destroyer, Riyan Parag, has been the most consistent player for the team this season. The right-hander has emerged as the highest scorer for the team with 567 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 151.60 with 4 fifties to his name. In the last Eliminator against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Parag held his nerve against the challenging RCB bowling line-up scoring a decent 36 runs off 26 balls which helped RR seal the match.

Sanju Samson

Skipper Sanju Samson has guarded the post for RR whenever they have been written off in tricky situations. The wicket-keeper batsman has scored 521 runs in 15 matches with five fifties so far. As RR play SRH in the second qualifier, the onus will be on Samson to lead from the front as the captain.

Players who can make a difference

Yuzvendra Chahal

Emerging as the highest wicket-taker for RR this season, Yuzvendra Chahal has bowled comprehensively this season. The wrist-spinner has picked 18 wickets from 14 matches at an economy of 9.48. As the leggie contests on the slow turning turf in Chennai against the Sunrisers, he could well prove his prowess with the ball.

Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin spun the web convincingly against RCB picking 2 wickets for just 19 runs in the eliminator as the Player of the Match. The right-hander is likely to be favoured by the turning track in the MA Chidambaram Stadium, a venue where he is the highest-wicket taker in the league. This year, the veteran spinner has picked 9 wickets from 14 matches at an impressive economy of 8.31

Player statistics (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

Travis Head

SRH opener Travis Head has been the highest run-scorer for the team hitting 533 runs in 13 matches at a mind-boggling strike rate of 199.63. The Australian, after having failed to replicate his batting stints against the Kolkata Knight Riders in Qualifier 1, will have the responsibility for yet another rock-solid start that he has been giving this season.

T. Natarajan

Left-arm pacer T. Natarajan has been lethal with the ball as the leading wicket-taker for the team with 18 scalps from 12 matches with his best figures being 4/19. The SRH speedster will definitely look to pick some early wickets in the initial stages of the game against the Royals in Chennai on a surface that is most likely to help the bowlers.

Players who can make a difference

Pat Cummins

SRH skipper Pat Cummins has made handy contributions with the ball for the team being the second-highest wicket-taker of the team. The Aussie bowler has picked 16 wickets from 14 matches at an average of 9.42. Cummins has been a crucial player in the middle and death overs where he has perplexed the batsmen with his mixture of deliveries. On the slow-turning Chennai surface, the Australian is likely to make it difficult for the batsmen.

Rahul Tripathi

Youngster Rahul Tripathi may not have played enough matches for the side but did prove his talent in the first Qualifier against the KKR. Rahul almost took the team home after a slippery start by scoring 55 runs off 35 deliveries before being run out. With the right-hander looking in good touch, the Sunrisers could well be benefited from his scoring streak.

Head-to-head

As both teams meet for the 20th time over the years, the previous 19 occasions have seen the Sunrisers being ahead by a narrow margin with 10 wins in their favour. The Orange Army also won their last encounter in the group stage of this season’s IPL. In the playoffs, both RR and SRH have met only once, which was back in 2013 when the former won against the Sunrisers in the first eliminator.

Venue Details

The M.A. Chidambaram Stadium is considered a slow-turning track where the ball holds up a bit as the game progresses. The pitch is known to provide great assistance to the spinners as the batsmen face difficulty in scoring runs. Although in the 83 matches played in this venue, 48 matches have been won by the teams batting first, the pitch has clearly favoured the teams bowling first this year with 5 out of 7 matches won by the chasing team. The average score batting first at this venue is nearly 170 runs, while the average total batting second is 160 runs.

Therefore, the teams winning the toss are likely to favour bowling first and restrict the opponent team to a chasable total on the board.

While the duo will meet for the first time in the Chennai-based stadium, they’ll enter with concerning records. The Orange Army have only won 1 out of 10 matches they have played at this stadium. On the other hand, the Royals only have 2 wins out of 9 matches on this track.

Match Prediction

As both teams have fumbled lately in the season, a win might fall in anyone’s pocket. However, as RR come from a win in their last match, they’ll surely be boosted with a whole lot of confidence. Their spinners have been in top form this season and are likely to benefit from the turning track in Chennai.

Although the Royals have better chances to win the contest, SRH’s sting in the batting order may destroy the best bowling units on a good day considering their record of highest total this season.

As per the Google Win Predictor, both teams have almost the same chance of winning the match with SRH being slightly ahead at 52%.

Fantasy XI

Openers: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head (v/c)

Batters: Sanju Samson (c), Rahul Tripathi, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer

All-rounders: Ravichandran Ashwin

Bowlers: Pat Cummins, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar