29 March,2022 07:38 AM IST | Pune | Shreeram Gokhale
R Ashwin (left) and Yuzvendra Chahal. Pic/RR
With the mega-auction changing the dynamics of all the squads, the key at the start of the IPL 2022 is understanding and finding the core group for all the teams. And it will be no different as Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad open their IPL 2022 campaign at the Maharashtra Cricket association (MCA) stadium here on Tuesday.
With its black soil, Pune's pitch has always had something on offer for the spinners. With temperatures consistently clocking 39 degree Celsius for the past week in the region, the spinners will have a role to play in Tuesday's game as well as the following ones. And that is one area where Royals are better equipped compared to their opponents. In R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, they have country's best off-spinner and leg-spinner.
With the pitch in Pune being a bit two-paced often, the duo, with their experience and guile, will definitely be a challenge to face, Especially, if the likes of Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna give them a couple of wickets first up. Sunrisers do have the experience of Washington Sundar in spin department, but the man from Tamil Nadu has had his struggles with injuries in recent past. They also have Karnataka leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal in the squad.
It will be interesting to see how the leggie fares, after being a bit up and down with his form in the past couple of years. Of course, that doesn't make Sunrisers a weak bowling unit, with the guile of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, raw pace of Umran Malik, death-overs ability of T Natarajan and the hit-the-deck ability of South African Marco Jansen. In the past, Sunrisers have backed their bowling with the experience of Kane Williamson and David Warner doing bulk of the work in the batting department. With the Aussie no longer part of the franchise, Williamson, West Indian recruit Nicolas Pooran, South African Aiden Markram would likely form the middle-order, with the retained Abdul Samad coming into finisher role. The local knowledge of Rahul Tripathi at the top should become handy.
Royals have always had the firepower in the batting department - this squad being no different. However, it's about the execution where they have failed a bit in the past couple of seasons. With the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler at the top, and skipper Sanju Samson and West Indian Shimron Hetmyer in the middle-order, they certainly have the batting that a lot of oppositions will fear. With the square boundaries being short, batsmen have enjoyed their time in the middle here. And that's where the spinners versus batsmen battle becomes really interesting at this venue.
