Jansen replaces Markram as SRH elect to bat first against RR

HYDERABAD: Sunrisers Hyderabad have won the toss and elected to bat first against table-topper Rajasthan Royals in match 50 of IPL 2024 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday evening.

While RR are comfortably placed at the top of the points table with 16 points from nine matches, SRH are at fifth place with 10 points from nine games. SRH skipper Pat Cummins, who got loud cheers from the crowd on winning the toss, said their defeats in last two games while chasing had some effect on the decision to bat first.

“The games we have won, we batted first. That's probably our strength. Looks like a good wicket and nice to come back in front of home crowd,” he said. SRH have brought in left-arm fast-bowling all-rounder Marco Jansen in place of right-handed batter Aiden Markram.

RR captain Sanju Samson said he would have batted first too if the toss had fallen in his favour. “It does suit the team, we have done both well this season. The momentum is the key in this tournament. Lot of things have been working well. To recognise what is working well, we just want to stick with that,” he said.

RR have just three overseas players in Trent Boult, Rovman Powell and Shimron Hetmyer, with Jos Buttler expected to come into the chase as an impact player.

Playing XIs

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (captain & wicketkeeper), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Rovman Powell, Shimron Hetmyer, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal

Substitutes: Jos Buttler, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Shubham Dubey, Navdeep Saini, Tanush Kotian

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Anmolpreet Singh, Heinrich Klaasen (wicketkeeper), Nitish Reddy, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Marco Jansen, Pat Cummins (captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan

Substitutes: Umran Malik, Mayank Markande, Aiden Markram, Sanvir Singh, Jaydev Unadkat