IPL 2018: SunRisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals match preview

Team Rajasthan Royals is all geared up to make a return to the Indian Premier League after two years of suspension over spot-fixing scandal.

RR will open their IPL 2018 when they take on SunRisers Hyderabad in the match number 4 on Monday.

The match will commence at 8 PM (IST) in Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium at Hyderabad.

Just before the beginning of IPL 11, both the team had to lose their captains, Steve Smith and David Warner, due to the recent ball-tampering incident occurred during a match against South Africa.

Cricket Australia banned both Smith and Warner for one-year and BCCI also banned the players from IPL.

However, both SRH and RR immediately found replacement of their team captains in Kane Williamson and Ajinkya Rahane.

SunRisers Hyderabad retained Bhuvneshwar Kumar and used right to match card to re-sign Shikhar Dhawan, Deepak Hooda and Rashid Khan at the Player Auction.

On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals picked some of the key players at the Auction including Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Darcy Short and Jafra Archer. The franchise has signed former RR captain Shane Warne as team mentor.

As a replacement of David Warner and Steve Smith, Rajasthan Royals picked Heinrich Klaasen while SunRisers Hyderabad roped in Alex Hales.

Talking statistically, Rajasthan Royals has a little edge over SunRisers Hyderabad as they have clinched 4 out of 7 matches played between the two teams.

Match Predictions -  SunRisers Hyderabad has 20 out of 30 matches played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is being considered the key player from SRH side who had dismissed current RR captain on 6 occasions.

However, It will be interesting to see which team begins the new season of Indian Premier League season with a WIN.