KL Rahul-led Kings XI Punjab will be eager to get a win when they face Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League on Thursday.

KXIP are currently at the bottom of the points table after losing four of their five games, while SRH are only slightly better at sixth following two wins and three losses so far.

KXIP’s strength has been in a formidable opening duo. Skipper KL Rahul has been in scintillating form this year, scoring two fifties and a century, while Mayank Agarwal also has a half-century and a ton to his name. The two have done the heavy-lifting for the team. Nicholas Pooran has also looked sharp but Glenn Maxwell is yet to fire.

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But despite the solid batting performances, KXIP have been unable to deliver with the ball. Mohammed Shami has impressed, and Ravi Bishnoi and Sheldon Cottrell have had their moments, but the bowling unit has struggled to fire as a unit.

They were unable to defend 223 against Rajasthan. In their 10-wicket loss in the previous outing, KXIP bowlers were at their wits end as Chennai Super Kings overhauled a 178-run target with 14 balls and 10 wickets to spare.

SRH in IPL 2020

Match Day/Date/Time Venue Result Total points
SRH vs RCB 21 Sep, Mon (1930) Dubai SRH lost by 10 runs 0
KKR vs SRH 26 Sep, Sat (1930) Abu Dhabi SRH lost by 7 wickets 0
DC vs SRH 29 Sep, Tue (1930) Abu Dhabi SRH won by 15 runs 2
CSK vs SRH 2 Oct, Fri (1930) Dubai SRH won by 7 runs 4
MI vs SRH 4 Oct, Sun (1530) Sharjah SRH lost by 34 runs 4
KXIP in IPL 2020
Match Day/Date/Time Venue Result Total points
DC vs KXIP 20 Sep, Sun (1930) Dubai KXIP lost Super Over 0
KXIP vs RCB 24 Sep, Thu (1930) Dubai KXIP won by 97 runs 2
RR vs KXIP 27 Sep, Sun (1930) Sharjah KXIP lost by 4 wickets 2
KXIP vs MI 1 Oct, Thu (1930) Abu Dhabi KXIP lost by 48 runs 2
KXIP vs CSK 4 Oct, Sun (1930) Dubai KXIP lost by 10 wickets 2

And come Thursday, Sunrisers, who have a strong top order comprising Jonny Bairstow, David Warner, Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson, will look to exploit a low-on-confidence KXIP bowling attack.

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Warner and his men were handed a 34-run defeat by Mumbai Indians on Sunday. Having lost their opening two games due to the middle order not delivering, Sunrisers addressed the issue by bringing in Williamson to the playing XI at the expense of an all-round option.

Skipper Warner backed youngsters Abhishek Sharma and Abdul Samad to fill in for the fifth bowler and the risk paid off as the 2016 IPL champions won two games on the trot.

However, the Orange Army was dealt a massive blow when senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was ruled out of the tournament with a thigh muscle injury.

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In Bhuvneshwar’s absence, Sunrisers struggled with their bowling. Apart from T Natarajan, pacers Sandeep Sharma and Siddarth Kaul leaked runs. Samad was also expensive, which led Warner to turn to Williamson to bowl two overs of off-spin against Mumbai.

Going ahead, there will be added pressure on yorker specialist Natarajan and star spinner Rashid Khan. Sunrisers face the conundrum of either providing stability in the middle order or strengthening their bowling attack.

They have the option of playing experienced Afghan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi or West Indies’ Fabian Allen but that would mean Willamson will have to sit out.

Head-to-head

Mat SRH wins KXIP wins SRH win% KXIP win%
SRH vs KXIP 14 10 4 71.42 28.58

SRH squad

Batsmen Bowlers All-rounders Wicketkeepers
Kane Williamson Rashid Khan Vijay Shankar Jonny Bairstow
David Warner Bhuvneshwar Kumar Mohammad Nabi Wriddhiman Saha
Manish Pandey Khaleel Ahmed Abhishek Sharma Shreevats Goswami
Priyam Garg Sandeep Sharma Abdul Samad
Virat Singh Siddarth Kaul Fabian Allen
Billy Stanlake Sandeep Bavanaka
T Natarajan Sanjay Yadav
Shahbaz Nadeem
Basil Thampi

KXIP squad

Batsmen Bowlers All-rounders Wicketkeepers
Chris Gayle Mohammed Shami K Gowtham KL Rahul
Mayank Agarwal Mujeeb ur Rahman Glenn Maxwell Nicholas Pooran
Karun Nair Arshdeep Singh Deepak Hooda Prabhsimran Singh
Sarfaraz Khan Hardus Viljoen James Neesham
Mandeep Singh M Ashwin Chris Jordan
J Suchith Tajinder Singh
Harpreet Brar
Darshan Nalkande
Sheldon Cottrell
Ravi Bishnoi
Ishan Porel

Match starts at 7.30 pm IST and will be live on Star Sports network / Disney+ Hotstar

(With PTI inputs)