Big Picture: Samson to start as batter
In a video uploaded by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Friday, Heinrich Klaasen, batting in the nets, belts every ball he faces out of sight. Travis Head, his equally big-hitting team-mate, keeps swinging his his head around to try and follow the ball into the distance. Leading into IPL 2025, it was a throwback to Klaasen, Head and Abhishek Sharma's merciless six-hitting last season. The three combined to smash 112 sixes out of SRH's 178 in 2024 - the most by any side in any IPL season.
Ahead of IPL 2025, SRH retained the explosive trio with no questions asked, alongside their captain Pat Cummins and emerging allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy. SRH now begin their new season by facing the team they had knocked out in last year's Qualifier 2.
Rajasthan Royals (RR), like their opposition on Sunday, have retained their core group of Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag (alongside Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel and Sandeep Sharma). Samson has been RR's go-to batter - he has 300-plus runs for them in seven successive seasons - but he will begin this season as an Impact Player, giving up keeping and captaining duties as he recovers from an injured finger. Parag will be lead RR in their first three games, a clear sign that at only 23 he's already part of their leadership group.
Hetmyer is RR's only overseas batting option, and that leaves them with a potentially all-Indian top five of Jaiswal, Samson, Parag, Nitish Rana and Jurel. With Hetmyer to follow, the batting still looks formidable, but RR are short on Indian bowling options. They will hope Jofra Archer (who is back with RR after five years), new imports Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana and Sandeep can challenge SRH's ultra-aggressive approach.
New loyalties
Last year, both Hasaranga and Fazalhaq Farooqi were with SRH. But while Hasaranga pulled out due to injury, Farooqi didn't get a game. Now they are both with RR, and have been in great form since the last IPL. While Hasaranga has 64 wickets at an average of 16.15 in all T20s since then, Farooqi has 62 at 15.17. Farooqi's run included being the joint-highest wicket-taker at the T20 World Cup 2024. So, this time, SRH could get to see what they missed last season.
Adam Zampa, meanwhile, withdrew late from the IPL last year after being retained by RR. This time, he's at SRH, and heads into the IPL on the back of 62 wickets in 39 T20s since the last IPL. SRH have some consolation after all.
Team news & likely XIIs
Joining the SRH batting party this time is Abhinav Manohar. He was the second-highest run-getter in last year's Maharaja T20 Trophy, the Karnataka-based T20 league, where he slammed 52 sixes, 22 higher than the next batter on the list. As for SRH's fourth overseas player, they have options in Zampa, Kamindu Mendis, Wiaan Mulder and Eshan Malinga. They could opt for Mendis if they choose to lengthen their batting line-up, or Zampa if they want to include a second frontline spinner alongside Rahul Chahar.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (probable): 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Abhinav Manohar, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Rahul Chahar, 11 Mohammed Shami, 12 Adam Zampa
In Samson's absence from the field, Jurel will likely that over the wicketkeeping gloves. Depending on the pitch and the conditions, RR might have to choose between Theekshana and Farooqi. They have only Hasaranga in the allrounder bracket in a squad otherwise full of specialist batters and bowlers.
Rajasthan Royals (probable): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Sanju Samson, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Riyan Parag (capt), 5 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Shubham Dubey/Akash Madhwal, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Maheesh Theekshana/Fazalhaq Farooqi, 11 Sandeep Sharma, 12 Tushar Deshpande
Big question
Two quicks who have had injury issues will be in action in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Cummins is set to return after missing the Tests in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy due to the birth of his second child and an ongoing ankle issue. He will be leading SRH for the second season running.
Archer, on the other hand, had an injury-free 2024 for England after chronic elbow and back problems. But given his history of injuries, and England's big Test series against India and Australia to follow later this year, he might have to manage his workload a bit.
In the spotlight: Nitish Reddy and Yashasvi Jaiswal
One of IPL 2024's big finds was Nitish Kumar Reddy. His captain Cummins called him "awesome", and Reddy, a rare pace-bowling allrounder in India, so impressed the national team's management that he was handed a T20I later in the year and then flew to Australia to face Cummins' side in Test cricket. A Test century in Melbourne brought tears to his father's eyes, and he will be hoping to keep making him proud this IPL.
Yashasvi Jaiswal took the IPL by storm in 2023, when he cracked its fastest fifty - off 13 balls. He tallied 625 runs at a strike rate of 163.61, including a century. The next year, although he scored 435 runs, that number still seemed to have fallen short of expectations. Jaiswal was part of India's T20 World Cup-winning squad just after that, but didn't get a game. He has remained on the fringes of India's T20I side, and with immense competition from Abhishek and Samson, he will need an impactful IPL to change that.
SRH dominated the charts with the best batting stats last season, and they've kept their core intact for another explosive run
Key stats
The SRH vs RR rivalry is nowhere near as popular as CSK vs RCB, or CSK vs MI. But the cricket, of late at least, has been tight and exciting; SRH lead the faceoff against RR 11-9, with two of the last three games between them being high-scoring, last-ball thrillers.
Thirty-two batters faced at least 200 balls last season, of which Abhishek (204.21) and Head (191.55) led charts for strike rate. Klaasen was seventh with 171.07.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was a major part of SRH's line-up from 2014 to 2024. Sunday will be the first time since October 2021 that SRH will be playing a match without him in the side.
Pitch and conditions
The average run rate in Hyderabad last year was 10.54, the second-highest among the 13 grounds. SRH's ultra-aggressive attitude with the bat - they even chased down 166 against LSG within ten overs - took the pitch out of the equation.
Hyderabad is expected to be hot on Sunday afternoon, with hardly any chance of rain. So expect big scores again, and the ball flying to all parts of the ground.
Quotes
"I think it's a pragmatic answer to a difficult problem, [dew] doesn't affect every ground. Don't think we experience dew here [in Hyderabad] at all, Chennai and Mumbai [are affected with dew] in particular. It's a nice solution for everyone to come up with, I think it'll work really well."
SRH head coach Daniel Vettori on the new rule about allowing one ball change on request
Next three fixtures
SRH host Lucknow Super Giants four days after hosting RR. They then have back-to-back away games against Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders.
Three days after playing SRH, RR host Kolkata Knight Riders, and three days later they have a home game against Chennai Super Kings - both in Guwahati. With a five-day gap after that, RR fly to Mullanpur to play Punjab Kings.
