Sunrisers Hyderabad travel to Mohali today seeking the elusive away win, after their game with the Royal Challengers Bangalore was washed out on Tuesday. Although Mohali is supposedly their home venue, this is Kings XI Punjab’s first match at the IS Bindra Stadium, their previous matches played in Indore at the alternate home venue.
The Hyderabad side, defending champions, have done fairly well over the course of this tournament, with four victories and a cancelled match in their eight outings. They are in the top half of the points table, with 9 points, and are certainly favorite to win today and secure their first full points outside Hyderabad.
Punjab, on the other hand, have struggled. They have won three of their seven matches, and need to win 4-5 matches in the rest of their seven matches to qualify for the playoffs. They did win their last match, against the Gujarat Lions, by 26 runs, guided by opener Hashim Amla’s 65 which helped KXIP post a formidable 188. Amla has looked in his characteristic sublime touch, and has scored 299 runs in 7 matches, including a century for a losing cause against the Mumbai Indians on Sunday.
There were, however, concerns surrounding his availability, after he injured his hamstring in the previous match. The South African was not seen at the nets on the eve of the match, and there were no updates from the KXIP camp if Amla was available for selection. If Amla has not recovered, the team might contemplate batting Shaun Marsh up the order and bring in David Miller or Eoin Morgan to bolster the middle order.
The Sunrisers have banked on their openers Dhawan and Warner to get them off to good starts, and it will doubtlessly be the same case today. Kiwi batsman Kane Williamson has also sizzled in his two knocks so far. Kane made his debut against the Delhi Daredevils, scoring 89 off 51 to take Hyderabad to their fourth win in four home matches.
In the SRH bowling department, a lot will depend on swing bowler Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, who has been in good form. He holds the Purple Cap for most wickets (16). Also impressive has been the Afghan Rashid Khan, who has picked up 10 wickets at a strike rate of 16.50.
When and Where:
IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali, 2000 IST 28 April 2017
Head to Head
Overall: Matches played – 9, Kings XI Punjab Won – 2, Sunrisers Hyderabad Won – 7
In Mohali: Matches played – 3, Kings XI Punjab Won – 0, Sunrisers Hyderabad Won – 3
Squads:
Kings XI Punjab: Glenn Maxwell (captain), David Miller, Manan Vohra, Hashim Amla, Shaun Marsh, Armaan Jaffer, Martin Guptill, Eoin Morgan, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Arman Jaffer, Anureet Singh, Mohit Sharma, KC Cariappa, Pradeep Sahu, Swapnil Singh, T Natrajan, Matt Henry, Varun Aaron, Axar Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Gurkeerat Mann, Rahul Tewatia, Darren Sammy, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Nikhil Naik, Ishant Sharma.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (captain), Tanmay Agarwal, Ricky Bhui, Bipul Sharma, Ben Cutting, Shikhar Dhawan, Eklavya Dwivedi, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, Siddharth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ben Laughlin, Abhimanyu Mithun, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammed Siraj, Mustafizur Rahman, Ashish Nehra, Naman Ojha (wicketkeeper), Rashid Khan, Vijay Shankar,Barinder Sran, Pravin Tambe, Kane Williamson and Yuvraj Singh.
Predictions :
- For KXIP, Yuvaraj Singh and pacer Siddhart Kaul will feel at home at Mohali as both turn out for Punjab in domestic matches. Fireworks are expected off Yuvraj today.
- Sunrisers Hyderabad have yet to win a match outside Hyderabad, and Punjab will look to exploit this at their “home” ground. It is Punjab’s first match in Mohali, so it is quite unlikely that they have the home advantage. Watch out for raucous crowds though!
- Hyderabad’s bowling has been disciplined this season, and they will be looking to restrict Punjab to a small score after putting them to bat. The night game means dew may be a factor in the game, the toss is important.
- Punjab will also bank on its foreign power – Amla, Morgan and skipper Maxwell – to fire with the bat. Amla has looked in good touch, but the other two are yet to make a significant contribution.
