Sunrisers Hyderabad will face Kings XI Punjab on Thursday in Indian Premier League. SRH will be eyeing to get back in winning track after the defeat against Mumbai Indians in the previous match. Sunrisers Hyderabad has started the tournament with consecutive two defeats. However, they have made a comeback with two back to back wins in the next two matches. The team will be trying to gain the momentum back in their favour from the next match.
Kings XI Punjab has won the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore with ease. That win has helped their net run rate a lot. They have not been able to win a single match after that. The bowling has been a major issue for this franchise. The management will certainly try hard to get back into a track from this match.
Pitch Report:
The toss is going to be an important factor in this season. Previously we have seen the captains choosing to chase the total in T20 matches. However, in this tournament, the team batting second is facing problems to chase down the total because of various factors. The pitches are getting slow because of the dew factor. Captains will surely assess the condition ahead of the match and choose batting or bowling first according to their team strength.
Predicted Starting XI:
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
David Warner (C), Johnny Bairstow (Wk), Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, T. Natarajan, Siddharth Kaul.
Kings XI Punjab:
KL Rahul (Captain, wk), Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Karun Nair, Glenn Maxwell, Mujeeb Ur Rahaman, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Sheldon Cotrell, Ishan Porel.
Key Players:
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
David Warner
Johnny Bairstow
Kings XI Punjab:
KL Rahul
Mayank Agarwal
Captain And Vice Captain Selection:
Captain Choices: David Warner, KL Rahul
Vice-Captain Choices: Johnny Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran
Probable Winner: Kings XI Punjab
Sunrisers Hyderabad will miss Bhuvaneshwar Kumar for the rest of the tournament. This has been a big blow for them. Earlier, in the first match of the tournament, Sunrisers Hyderabad has lost their star Australian all-rounder, Mitchell Marsh. Mitchell Marsh is not match-fit yet. The management of Sunrisers Hyderabad has announced Prithvi Raj Yarra as the replacement for Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. However, the bowling unit of Sunrisers Hyderabad will certainly miss the experience of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. It will be difficult for them to find out the proper balance in the side without the star Indian fast bowler.
On the other hand, the management of Sunrisers Hyderabad has to take some important decisions ahead of this match. Chris Gayle and Mujeeb Ur Rahaman are sitting on the bench. They will have to bring in one of them on their side as other players are not performing well. Mohammed Shami and KL Rahul are playing good in this tournament but they have failed to shine as a team. It will be a big test for Anil Kumble and Co to stage a comeback from this position in this season.
