Rajasthan Royals take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL Eliminator at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi on Wednesday. This is a knock-out game and a loss for either will see them crash out of the tournament. The winner of this game will play Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, in what will be a second chance for Mumbai after their loss to Chennai Super Kings in the Qualifier played yesterday.

The head to head record between the two sides in this year's IPL stands at one a piece with Rajasthan winning their home game by eight wickets while Hyderabad returned the favour in the reverse fixture with a 23 run win over Rahul Dravid's side.

Rajasthan Royals
IPL

Where to Watch Live

The game starts at 3:30pm BST. Live coverage will be available on ITV 4 and ITV 4 HD. Follow the match live, via text updates, on ESPN Cricinfo.

Overview

Rajasthan qualified for the play-offs with a five-wicket win over the Chennai Super Kings but failed to win their remaining two games, thus denying themselves at chance of making it to the top two. The Royals have been in brilliant form throughout this season with an unbeatable force at home, winning all their games in Jaipur. However, they have managed to win only two games on the road, something which has to be addressed by Dravid before they take the field in Delhi.

The Royals have lost their last two games against Mumbai and Hyderabad respectively having batted second in both occasions, where they lost the first game by 14 runs and the second by a mere 23 runs. Their slump in form coincides with their team being maligned by a series of spot fixing allegations, with three members of their team currently being questioned in police custody for allegedly taking money from bookies to intentionally fix the outcome of the game.

However, the captain and the senior members of the team need to stand up in times of adversity and reconcile the players to giving their best in order to boost their team into the finals.

Hyderabad have no match fixing allegations to contend with and are going through an upward spiral in terms of results coming into the business part of the season. Hyderabad have won their last two games against the Royals and the Kolkata Knight Riders, which let them edge past Royal Challengers Bangalore to the play-offs. Like Rajasthan, the Sunrisers have been brilliant at home but have failed to have a similar effect in their travels.

Hyderabad have arguably the best bowling line-up in the IPL, with the likes of Dale Steyn, Thisara Perera and Amit Mishra among the top wicket getters this season and will be looking to bank on them to get the job done. Their batting hasn't been among the best, with the Sunrisers managing to cross the 160 run mark only twice in 16 games played thus far. However, Hyderabad will be looking to take advantage of Royals' misfortune with regards to the spot fixing scandal and use their mentality to put one over their Jaipur rivals.

Team Guide

Rajasthan Royals

    • Last Five(most recent first): L L W W W
    • Last Result: Sunrisers Hyderabad beat the Rajasthan Royals by 23 runs.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

    • Last Five(most recent first): W W L W L
    • Last Result: Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets.

Team News

Rajasthan Royals will be without Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan after their contracts were terminated by the club for their involvement in the spot fixing scandal. Shaun Tait is expected to come into the squad to bolster their bowling in the absence of Sreeesanth.

Sunrisers Hyderabad arse expected to start the same squad which started against Kolkata. Ishant Sharma is expected to make the squad after missing out the last game due to illness.