The time is running short and the battle for the play-off qualification is now or never for both Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) who lock horns with each other in the 40th match of the Indian Premier League Season 13 (IPL 13 ) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium later on Thursday evening.

The RR vs SRH game in the IPL 2020 is scheduled to commence at 7:30 pm (IST) and the toss will take place at 7:00 pm (IST).

While Steve Smith-led Royals still have a slightly better chance than SRH of making it through to the knockouts , it is nothing less than a do or die affair for Warner-led Sunrisers Hyderabad who languish at the seventh spot with just six points in ten games.

Rajasthan Royals Need To Bank On Collective Performance Rather Than Individual Brilliance

Rajasthan Royals (RR) have been rather inconsistent in their efforts to pull off a collective performance with either willow or the white cherry. Flashes of brilliance from Steve Smith, Sanju Samson in the opening stages and all-rounder Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler in the recent set of matches have headlined an up and down batting performance.

Young Riyan Parag and Rahul Tewatia have provided the finishing acts in a couple of games but need to be more consistent to support the fallible top order.

Jofra Archer has been in red hot wicket taking form but will need support from the likes of Ankit Rajpoot, Karthik Tyagi for the team to auger well as a seam unit. Meanwhile, the spin duo of Shreyas Gopal and Rahul Tewatia has fared pretty well with some economical spells.

SRH Need To Shed Off Over Dependency On Warner-Bairstow Duo

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have their backs to the wall and could face elimination if they lose to Rajasthan Royals (RR) later in the evening. An injury to their frontline batsman Kane Williamson has further made things tougher for the Warner-led side.

SRH will have to work a way out to shed off over dependency on their highly reliable top order of Jonny Bairstow, David Warner and Manish Pandey.

If Williamson does not make the cut to the playing XI, SRH would play one off Jason Holder or Mohammad Nabi to strike a balance between bat and bowl. Both Holder and Nabi are more than handy with the bat and can lend support to the top order at the fag end of the innings.

ALSO READ | IPL 2020: Who Among Holder Or Nabi Can Replace Injured Williamson In SRH's Playing XI For RR Game ?

Warner would hope that one of his promising youngsters in Abdul Samad or Vijay Shankar deliver with the bat if there is a top order failure.

SRH's seam bowling attack has been tried to make up for the loss of their pace spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar but has been founding at crucial stages. Sandeep Sharma and T Natarajan will have to be at their best against the 'Royals' who have some lethal power hitters.

SRH's strike weapon with the bowl shall once again be their star Afghan leg spinner Rashid Khan who has produced some game changing spells for the 'Orange Army' in the season so far.

Here are the full squads for Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2020
Rajasthan Royals: Steve Smith (C), David Miller, Manan Vohra, Riyan Parag, Robin Uthappa, Shashank Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ben Stokes, Mahipal Lomror, Shreyas Gopal, Tom Curran, Anuj Rawat, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Akash Singh, Andrew Tye, Aniruddha Joshi, Ankit Rajpoot, Jaydev Unadkat, Jofra Archer, Kartik Tyagi, Mayank Markande, Oshane Thomas, Rahul Tewatia, Varun Aaron

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (C), Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Shreevats GoswaRR, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Wriddhiman Saha, Abdul Samad, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Jason Holder, Abhishek Sharma, B Sandeep, Sanjay Yadav, Fabian Allen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Siddharth Kaul, Billy Stanlake, T Natarajan, Basil Thampi