IPL 2018 RR vs SRH: 5 player battles to look forward to between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad

#4 Sanju Samson v Shakib Al Hasan

Shakib Al Hasan

After a couple of single figure scores, RR’s hugely talented number 3 Sanju Samson got back to form with a half-century against MI in his previous game. He would almost certainly need to make a substantial contribution if his team is to get on top of SRH’s bowling attack. Samson is RR’s highest scorer with 239 runs in 6 games and is averaging 47.80 runs per game so far, to go along with an impressive strike rate of 150.31.

His wicket will be a big one for SRH and the bowler who could well do the trick is Shakib Al Hasan. While Samson has been excellent against fast bowling, he has not been as dominant against the spinners and therein lies the opportunity for SRH to get his wicket.

The Bangladeshi has been a lynchpin of the SRH attack and has picked up 8 wickets so far, with an excellent economy rate of only 7.16. This particular duel is almost certainly going to have a huge bearing on the game and it would also be interesting to see how the young Indian tackles the wiles of an old hand.