What Match 41 of Pepsi IPL 2015 will feature a contest between the Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad. The Rajasthan Royals, who defeated the Delhi Daredevils in their most recent outing, are sitting pretty in the top half of the table. RR have 14 points – courtesy six wins and two points from two washed out matches – from eleven matches, and will aim to finish the league stage of the competition in the top two places. Shane Watson’s side started with a bang, winning their first five matches, before losing footing briefly. However, back to winning ways now, they will hope to embark on a run similar to the one they had at the start of the season. Sunrisers Hyderabad have four wins from nine matches and lie seventh in the standings. But, David Warner’s boys will be aware that not a lot separates them and three other teams in the points table. SRH have beaten some formidable sides this season – like Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings – but haven’t been able to do that consistently. In their most-recent outing against KKR – in Kolkata – they did very well to restrict the hosts to 167, but struggled after losing two wickets – including that of the captain David Warner - in the first over of the chase. The team relies heavily on the two openers – Warner and Shikhar Dhawan – and heading into the business end of the competition will need other players in the team to stand up and be counted. When 07 May 2015, 4p.m. IST Where Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai The Protagonists Ajinkya Rahane has stood like a pillar right through the season and cannot seem to put a foot wrong these days. The best feature of the 26-year old’s batting is that he hasn’t had to try too hard these days to pile on the runs; it appears he is almost batting like a dream and is using his bat like a magic wand. Where SRH are concerned, one doesn’t have to look any further than their two opening batsmen – David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan. The two left-handers are the team’s two most dangerous batsmen and the biggest match-winners. Contest to look-forward to The contest between RR’s Ajinkya Rahane and SRH’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar promises to be interesting. There is already a bit of history between the two players; Bhuvneshwar Kumar has dismissed Rahane thrice in the IPL – for scores of 0, 67 and 0. When they came up against each other earlier this season, the RR opener had his way, scoring 18 off 13 balls from the SRH bowler, which included three hits to the fence. The other battle to look out to is between James Faulkner and Shikhar Dhawan; the RR left-arm pacer has dismissed the SRH opener thrice previously – for scores of 0, 1 and 33. Previous Meetings The Rajasthan Royals have a 4-2 win-loss from six previous matches against Sunrisers Hyderabad. When these two teams met in Visakhapatnam earlier this season, Rajasthan Royals won a low-scoring match comfortably, although the chase of 128 was dragged on until the last delivery. Ajinkya Rahane piloted the chase with a 56-ball 62. RR won the match by six wickets. Trivia The average first innings total in IPL matches at the Brabourne Stadium is 176. The Rajasthan Royals have the best economy rate while bowling in the Powerplay overs – 7.31. RR captain Shane Watson and his opposite number David Warner have both won only two tosses each so far in Pepsi IPL 2015; Watson has won the toss twice in six matches he has been captain, while Warner has won two tosses in the nine matches he has led SRH in this season. In his first three matches against Sunrisers Hyderabad, James Faulkner had returns of 11 for 64 from 12 overs. However, in three matches against the same opponent since, he has gone wicket-less and conceded 67 runs in 9 overs. What Next Rajasthan Royals will be seen in action next at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai when they take on the Chennai Super Kings on May 10. Sunrisers Hyderabad meanwhile head to Ranchi for their away tie against the Delhi Daredevils, scheduled for May 9.