Sunrisers Hyderabad will be looking to halt the Kings XI Punjab juggernaut when the two sides clash in the Indian Premier League on Thursday in Hyderabad.
Both sides will be high on confidence after winning their previous matches. The Sunrisers bowlers were in fine form on Tuesday when they defended a low score of 118 and bowled out Mumbai Indians for just 87. Punjab are on a roll, notching up five wins out of six matches played so far. They too had defended a modest 143 against the Delhi Daredevils in their previous match.
The two teams have already played each other this season, with Punjab handing out a 15-run defeat to the Sunrisers in Mohali. Universe Boss Chris Gayle had cracked IPL 11’s first century in that match and after missing out Punjab’s previous game, he will be looking to roar again. But it is uncertain whether Gayle has recovered from his muscle injury.
The Sunrisers won’t have the services of the injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar, but will hope that Siddharth Kaul and Basil Thampi will combine well, along with their spin trio of Rashid Khan, Shakib al Hasan and Mohammad Nabi.
Time: 8 pm IST
Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad
Head to head: Matches – 11, Sunrisers Hyderabad won – 8, Kings XI Punjab won – 3
In Hyderabad: Matches – 5, Sunrisers Hyderabad won – 4, Kings XI Punjab won – 1
Sunrisers Hyderabad
- Hyderabad’s scoring rate against pace this season is 8.37; against spin, it drops to 6.72.
- Hyderabad have the best economy rate in the Powerplay this season – 6.91.
- Hyderabad have an outstanding record in IPL matches at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad; they’ve won 22 and lost 11 of their home matches. More recently, they have won 8 of their last 10 matches at the venue.
“Without a doubt, we were expecting a lot more from our batsmen [against Mumbai Indians]. Perhaps we could have gotten to 140-mark. A fantastic second half for us, but we are still to put a collective performance together.” – Sunrisers captain Kane Williamson
Squad:
Kane Williamson
(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan, Shakib Al Hasan, Manish Pandey, Carlos Brathwaite, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha, Rashid Khan, Ricky Bhui, Deepak Hooda, Siddharth Kaul, T Natarajan, Mohammad Nabi, Basil Thampi, K Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Sachin Baby, Chris Jordan, Billy Stanlake, Tanmay Agarwal, Shreevats Goswami, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Alex Hale.
Kings XI Punjab
- Kings XI Punjab are the only team to score at more than 10 runs an over in the first six overs. Their scoring rate in the Powerplay overs this season has been 10.30 on average.
“I don’t feel like a junior. There is no pressure at all to be in a dressing room filled with stars. The only pressure that I feel is about my own performance. I have played almost with everybody in domestic tournaments or in previous IPLs.” – Ankit Rajpoot
Squad:
Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, David Miller, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Rajpoot, Manoj Tiwary, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Barinder Sran, Andrew Tye, Akshdeep Nath, Ben Dwarshuis, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar, Manzoor Dar.
With inputs from PTI and IPLT20.com
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