Rajasthan Royals opt to bowl vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Riyan Parag called correctly as the unbeaten Rajasthan Royals (RR) elected to bowl on a fresh surface in Hyderabad against a Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) outfit hoping to overturn a two-match losing streak in IPL 2026.
RR made two changes, handing South Africa batter Lhuan-dre Pretorius his first opportunity of the season in place of a “rested” Shimron Hetmyer. In another like-for-like change, seamer Brijesh Sharma went out to accommodate Tushar Deshpande.
Hosts SRH also made two changes, with the experienced bowling duo of Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat making way for debutants Sakib Hussain and Praful Hinge. Sakib plays for Bihar in domestic cricket, and will be up against his state mate Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, while Hinge plays for Vidarbha under Harsh Dubey.
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (capt), Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Sandeep Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Tushar Deshpande
Impact Subs: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravi Singh, Shubham Dubey, Brijesh Sharma
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (capt & wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Praful Hinge
Impact Subs: R Smaran, Sakib Hussain, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, Harshal Patel
