IPL 2020: SRH Vs RR Game Plan 2 – RR’s Strategy for War-Stow

SRH vs RR – The twenty-sixth match of the IPL 2020 tournament between the blockbuster teams, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals, could all be about match-ups. We take a look at a key game plan that could play a role in the twenty-sixth game of IPL 2020 – SRH vs RR.

SRH vs RR Game Plan 2 – Warner-Bairstow, the partnership to break for RR

Sunrisers Hyderabad won their last game after setting an above-par total, thanks to their explosive opening partnership of 160 in just 15 overs. Since 2019, no partnership has accumulated more runs than David Warner – Jonny Bairstow. SRH have relied heavily on this pair and have won on all occasions when both their openers scored 40-plus in this time period (7 occasions). Hence it is understandable that the wickets of their openers are key for RR to bounce back in this tournament.

In the current season, however, both have had their own various struggles and yet continue to be in the top run-scorers. However there are chinks in their armour, which the Royals will look to exploit today. David Warner in the 2019 season wasn’t once dismissed by a wrist-spinner. This year, it’s happened 4 times; moreover, all four of those dismissals were to googlies.

Warner has played a false shot to 21% of the googlies bowled to him, and scores at run-a-ball this season. In Shreyas Gopal, Rajasthan have an excellent domestic bowler who has a good googly and can bowl it often. 39.4% of Gopal’s deliveries are googlies, and 57.6% of the balls bowled to Warner by leggies are googlies. Therefore, Gopal is someone who can exploit the flaw Warner has shown this season.

However, wrist-spin in the Powerplay isn’t the best idea, especially because Shreyas Gopal has been a bit erratic with his lengths thus far. So the initial pace burst in the first six overs will also be vital to build pressure. The track in Dubai has given the fast bowlers assistance in the Powerplay, and the ball has swung as well.

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The important thing for the pacers in the Powerplay against these two is to stick to the basics and execute. Against good length balls from right-arm pacers in the Powerplay, David Warner and Jonny Bairstow have really struggled, as the graphic below shows.

Both of them strike at less than 70 and haven’t scored a single boundary. Also, balls on a good length draw more false shots than the shorter or fuller ones, in the case of Jonny Bairstow in particular. Hence the plan for the Powerplay pacers must be to target the good length and keep it tight.