3 player battles to watch out for in SRH vs RR, Match 2 of IPL 2025 ft. Abhishek Sharma

The second match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 will see the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) square off against the Rajasthan Royals (RR). Both teams, who made it to the playoffs last season, will meet at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday, March 23.

Last year's runner-up, SRH, unleashed a different brand of cricket in IPL 2024, with openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma going after bowlers from the word go. This year, they will be joined by wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, and one can expect big totals from the SunRisers camp.

RR, on the other hand, are known to back young players. As a result, they handed the leadership baton to Riyan Parag in place of Sanju Samson, who will play as an Impact Player in the first matches. The Royals, who crashed out from the Qualifiers in IPL 2024, will look to start on a strong note and go all the way this season.

Both sides have some quality players and the match could witness several matchups, which is common in modern-day cricket. On that note, let's take a look at three-player battles to watch out for in the SRH vs RR fixture.

---

#1 Abhishek Sharma vs Jofra Archer

The young left-handed opener from Punjab had a breakthrough season last year, hitting sixes for fun. Abhishek Sharma smashed 42 sixes and 36 boundaries for his 484 runs in 16 matches.

The outstanding season paved his way to the national game. The attacking approach continued and the southpaw smashed England bowlers to all parts of the ground in his last T20I appearance for the Men in Blue. Abhishek smashed 135 off 54 deliveries, including 13 sixes and seven boundaries.

English pacer Jofra Archer had to bear the brunt of Abhishek's fearless batting on that night. The Barbados-born pacer will look to give it back to the youngster when they meet later today, which will make this duel an interesting one.

---

#2 Yashasvi Jaiswal vs Mohammad Shami

SRH's new recruit Mohammad Shami will take the new ball and will be tasked with removing RR's top order quickly. The right-arm pacer is returning to the IPL after missing the last season entirely due to an injury. However, Shami has looked in decent form and will be raring to go.

The veteran pacer will be up against young RR opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. The southpaw has made a name for himself with his aggressive batting. Although Jaiswal has all the shots in the book, early swing with the new ball has troubled him in recent times, which Shami will look to exploit.

Jaiswal has scored 37 runs off 29 balls against Shami in T20s, including four boundaries and two sixes, with the latter yet to dismiss him.

---

#3 Travis Head vs Wanindu Hasaranga

Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga might be tasked with bowling in the powerplays for RR where he could come up against Travis Head. The southpaw has been in blistering form in the last few years and lit up IPL 2024 with his batting exploits.

Head smashed 567 runs in 15 matches last year, including a century and four fifties, at a mind-boggling strike rate of over 190. Thus, Hasaranga, who is making a return to the IPL after missing the last season due to injury, will have to be smart and use his googlies efficiently to keep the Aussie batter in check.