Abu Dhabi: Rajasthan Royals will be keen to clear their off-field image with good on-field performances when they begin their IPL campaign by taking on a formidable Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday.
Ironically, RR ended up being the third best team in the last year’s cash-rich event. Led by veteran Rahul Dravid, they dominated the sixth edition, despite lack of big names in their ranks.
New captain Shane Watson said the spot-fixing controversy last year was the case of a couple of bad apples in the side, and assured that the team had got over the distraction and was concentrating on giving its best.
This year, RR have managed to put together a well balanced side. While they picked up players like Steven Smith, Tim Southee, Unmukt Chand and Rajat Bhatia, they managed to retain match-winners such as Watson, Ajinkya Rahane, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, James Faulkner and Brad Hodge.
Watson has always been a key player for the Royals and the team is expected to excel under his leadership.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad, who went down to the same opponents — Rajasthan Royals — in the Eliminator last season, will be looking to avenge their defeat.
The Sunrisers’ fourth finish stunned everyone considering it was their debut season in the last edition.
Sunrisers have already showed their brilliance at the auction, where they have bought some talented players to assemble a strong unit.
The team boosts of the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Aaron Finch and David Warner at the top, while there is Darren Sammy down the order along with India youngsters — Ricky Bhui and Manpreet Juneja.
Their bowling will be spearheaded by South Africa’s Dale Steyn along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, while Amit Mishra and Karan Sharma form a great spin attack in the company of Parveez Rasool.
With both teams looking solid on paper, a keen battle is on the cards.
