The Dubai International Cricket Stadium will host the 26th Match of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 when Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) face Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Sunday.

RR will enter this game on the back of four successive losses, including the one on Friday where they were beaten by Delhi Capitals (DC) in Sharjah.

SRH, on the other hand, lost their first two games against RCB and KKR. While they lost one more game - against MI, the David Warner-led unit has managed to add three wins to their account, beating DC, CSK and KXIP to pocket six points.

David Warner and Jonny Bairstow are the heart of Sinrisers' batting lineup. The two of them are not going to be enough in every match and this is why Kane Williamson has to find a place in the playing eleven every time.

Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, and the young Indian batsmen like Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, and Abdul Samad are good enough to get enough runs on most days. Every team would like to pick up Warner and Bairstow as early as possible to try and win but we have already seen the SRH middle-order get them at least one win in IPL 2020.

Among the bowing, Rashid Khan has hit tremendous form. He has gone for less than 15 runs in his four overs in three of the last four matches he has played. He has also picked up three wickets in one match twice during that phase.

SRH needs Rashid Khan to continue his momentum because the rest of the bowling is a bit weak. With Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natrajan, and Rashid Khan, SRH is effectively playing with four bowlers. The fifth bowler quota has to come from Abhishek Sharma and Abdul Samad.

Four losses on the trot have removed any shine that the first two wins for RR game them. This is now a team that is unsure of its methods. Steve Smith started IPL 2020 opening the batting but gave that up. Sanju Samson played attacking cricket from the start but with four failures, he is going to be under pressure as well.

Robin Uthappa, Jayadev Unadkat, Riyan Parag, Tom Curran, and Ankit Rajpoot have already been discarded. That is a lot of players to go through for a side that did not have a very deep squad to begin with.

Now, RR faces another very important question. Does Ben Stokes come into the team even though he has not had a single practice session? Also, is he fit enough to bowl his full quota of overs in every match because RR will have to replace AJ Tye for him?

The balance of this RR team seems all wrong to us. They are going to need some brilliance from Buttler or Samson to be able to cover up these weaknesses. The batting lineup around these proven match-winners is weak and untested. There is promise, yes, but as a whole, RR is definitely behind SRH in this category. The same is true for the bowling. If RR chooses to play Ben Stokes, we believe it would actually end up hurting them seeing as how their current team composition is.

A lot of questions need to be answered by RR and at this point, anyone backing them is going to be doing so hoping for luck on their side rather than any research behind it.

Weather Conditions
A clear, cloudless sky with temperature touching a high of 35 degrees Celsius with wind speeds around 10-15 km/h. Humidity will be 48% and no chance of rain. Another hot day awaits.

Pitch Report
The Dubai pitch has proved beneficial for batting. However, as the game progresses, it tends to slow down and will support the spinners. Both teams will make to utilise their spinner quite well in the tie. This is also going to be the second match played in Dubai within 24-hours and so the chances of a lower-scoring match seem to be higher.

Toss Prediction
The teams batting first have regularly scored more than 170 runs, and have defended their totals on most occasions. No captain will like to bowl first in the Dubai heat so it won't be a surprise if the team that wins the toss chooses to bat first.

Head-to-Head and Stats:
Head to head: Matches Played: 11
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 6
Rajasthan Royals: 5

Approaching Milestones
David Warner needs 67 runs to complete 5000 IPL runs and is 2 runs away from completing 3500 IPL runs for SRH.
Manish Pandey requires 9 runs to complete 3000 IPL runs.
Sandeep Sharma needs 3 wickets to complete 100 IPL wickets.
Sanju Samson will feature in his 100th IPL match.
Jos Buttler needs 7 sixes and 11 runs respectively to complete 50 IPL sixes and 1000 IPL runs for RR.
Steve Smith requires 53 runs to complete 1000 IPL runs as captain.

Likely XIs:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma/Basil Thampi, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan.

Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal/Manan Vohra, Steve Smith (c), Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Mahipal Lomror, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Varun Aaron, Kartik Tyagi.

Players to Watch Out For:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Steve Smith, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer

Match Odds:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1.72 Rajasthan Royals: 2.10

SantaBanta's Winner Prediction: Sunrisers Hyderabad

IPL 2020 Winner Live Odds:
Mumbai Indians - 3.6
Delhi Capitals - 3.8
Royal Challengers Bangalore - 5.5
Kolkata Knight Riders - 5.5
Sunrisers Hyderabad - 11
Chennai Super Kings - 13
Rajasthan Royals - 23
Kings XI Punjab - 41

Match Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Time: 3.30 PM IST
TV: Star Sports Network.
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar VIP