Preview RR vs SRH IPL 2021, Match 28, May 2nd, Arun Jaitley Stadium. RR vs SRH head to head player stats and records. Team news and match predictions for RR vs SRH.
Key match stats RR vs SRH preview
Venue Stats – Arun Jaitley Stadium
- Average first innings: 163
- Average first innings winning score: 180
- Average powerplay score: 48
- All-time win % batting 1st vs batting 2nd: 47% / 51%
Find full venue stats and records here
Team form RR vs SRH preview
- RR – LWLLW
- SRH – LLWLL
- Recent meetings: IPL 2020, RR won by 5 wickets, SRH won by 8 wickets
RR vs SRH preview
Is it too early to call this a clash to decide the wooden spoon? Probably, but one thing is for sure, the side that loses today’s fixture will have a gargantuan task on their hands to reach the playoffs given the current state of the table and both sides respective form so far in IPL 2021.
It’s not been an easy opening 6 games for the Royals with all the enforced chopping and changing that they’ve had to do following the withdrawal of so many key players and you might argue that given the circumstances their performing as well as can be expected.
As for SRH, they came into the tournament with the most settled squad but to date have struggled to find a winning formula leading to them chopping and changing their playing XI as demonstrated by the table below this shows total players used by each franchise in IPL 2021.
| Team | Players used during IPL 2021 |
| CSK | 13 |
| DC | 17 |
| KKR | 14 |
| MI | 15 |
| PBKS | 18 |
| RR | 14 |
| RCB | 15 |
| SRH | 21 |
RR vs SRH head to head stats
RR bowling vs SRH batting
The Royals strong suit this year has been their powerplay bowling which is something of a surprise given that many people would have expected them to struggle in that department without the services of Jofra Archer.
In this game, they’ll come up against a team in SRH that has traditionally been strong at the top of the order and indeed is very reliant on their top 3 or 4 making runs in order for them to win games. That battle during the first 6 overs could go a long way to deciding the eventual outcome of this match.
For SRH, it’s been a very frustrating season and one in my mind that could have been different but for some better decision making. Hindsight is of course a wonderful thing but had they opted to send in Bairstow for the superover against DC or had they chosen to put Williamson in at number 3 against CSK then things might have been different for them.
In regards decision making for the Orange Army, the real question then is who is making them? I look at their bench and see the likes of Tom Moody who has been involved with the franchise since the beginning, alongside Trevor Baylis who is now at least in theory the head coach plus a whole array of other coaches and management. When you’ve made so many poor choices and you continue to bring players in and out of the side then it does suggest a lack of cohesive thought at the very top!
While RR’s trio of left-armers plus Chris Morris have all had good seasons, their major weakness with the ball has been the 5th bowler. To date Rahul Tewatia has picked up just 1 wicket from 16 overs in IPL 2021 and the remaining bowlers used including the likes of Parag, Dube and Gopal have collectively taken only a single wicket from the 14 overs they’ve offered with all 3 bowlers mentioned going at more than 10 an over. For a relatively inexperienced captain in Sanju Samson this is a major headache!
Warner has had his struggles at the top of the order this season and his frustration was very evident in the last game against CSK. He’ll be up against a predominately left-arm attack today which is not an angle that he has had major success against in the past. By comparison he averages over 40 against right arm seam and strikes at 140+ in his IPL career to date.
SRH bowling vs RR batting
If the Royals are to make any kind of late charge for the playoffs then surely Jos Buttler is going to have to rediscover his very best form. There were signs of it in the innings he played against what is a very good MI bowling attack and RR will be desperate for him to carry on in this game. However, he’ll be facing one of his (and many batsmen’s) nemesis in this match in the form of Rashid Khan.
Another traditional strength of SRH has always been their defensive bowling and at least in that respect they’ve again been one of the top performers in this season’s IPL. Their bowling economy rate at the death is probably somewhat deflated by the fact that they have played 5 of their games in Chennai where everybody found it difficult to score at the death but they’ve still put in several good performances to help limit sides in the last 6 overs.
For their part, the Royals have looked dangerous at the close of an innings when they’ve managed to set a decent foundation early on which sadly for them hasn’t happened frequently enough in IPL 2021. We all know what destruction Sanju Samson can bring if he makes it through to that stage of the innings and the Royals would dearly love for their captain to have one his good days in this fixture!
All IPL player head to head records can be found here
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