SRH look to get back to winning ways

Beaten in their past two away outings, Rajasthan Royals would be looking to get back to winning ways when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in their own den in a Pepsi IPL league match at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here on Friday.

The fact that Rajasthan Royals have won all of their three matches here will give them the confidence to put behind the defeats in away matches against the strong Chennai Super kings and the Royal hallengers Bangalore.A The hosts can take heart from the fact that they went down fighting against the two strongest teams in tournament who are currently holding the top two positions on the points table.

Among the positives from these defeats for Rajasthan is Shane Watson, who was impressive with the ball and also hit a power-packed ton against CSK. The batting, which had looked brittle against Bangalore, could post a huge 185 for 4 against a strong CSK mainly due to the efforts of the Australian opener who stepped down as the vice-captain of his national team.

Watson will be once again be a vital cog in the scheme of things against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.A Skipper Rahul Dravid feels that it would be important to see how his men put behind the defeat in previous two matches and come out strongly on home turf.

The batting for the hosts looks good with Shane Watson firing and the likes of Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane providing them the much-needed solidity. Brad Hodge, Stuart Binny and Dishant Yagnik have also come good when required of them.

The bowling too has more options now with Watson having recovered from injury and looking eager to establish himself again as a genuine all-rounder. James Faulkner and Sidharth Trivedi have been consistent but the mercurial S Sreesanth has not lived up to the expectations. The hosts have also used spinners Ajit Chandela and Ankit Chavan as surprise weapon.