Kings XI Punjab welcome the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali, in a must-win encounter for the home side. The Kings have faint chances of making it to the play-offs and will have to win their remaining three games to keep themselves alive in the competition. Hyderabad meanwhile is sitting comfortably on the top of the table and had been on a winning run which came to an abrupt end at the hands of the Delhi Daredevils in their last game. Thus, they will look to get back to winning ways and consolidate their place in the top two.
The Sunrisers faced Punjab in Hyderabad and riding on a brilliant bowling display from Mustafizur Rahman outplayed the Kings. Mustafizur finished with the figures of 9 runs from 4 overs with 2 wickets and restricted the much fancied Punjab batting line-up to a paltry score of 143.
A brilliant opening stand between Warner and Dhawan saw Hyderabad comfortably chase down the target of 144 in only 18 overs. Punjab will look for revenge in Mohali and keep their hopes alive in the competition while Hyderabad will hope to repeat the feat again.
Let’s see how both the teams could possibly line-up for this encounter
Kings XI Punjab
Batsmen: The honours of opening the batting for Punjab will be upon their captain Murali Vijay and Hashim Amla. While Vijay has led from the front with this bat, the South African has struggled and will look to make amends against the Sunrisers.
Wriddhiman Saha has been in great touch and scored a 50 against the Mumbai Indians in the last match and might walk into bat at number three. Miller and Maxwell are set to follow with neither of them having delivered on their promise this season.
Punjab fans will have their hopes pinned on these two to provide resistance against the Sunrisers bowlers who have been brilliant this season. Gurkeerat Mann Singh meanwhile will look to provide solidarity to the middle order.
All-Rounders: Vijay will hope that the pair of Marcus Stoinis and Axar Patel deliver with both bat and ball against Hyderabad. Stoinis playing his very first IPL has been valuable to Punjab with his exploits with both bat and ball. The Aussie was outstanding with the ball against Mumbai picking up 4 wickets and will look to continue with his good run of form against Hyderabad too. Axar Patel has been a vital cog the Punjab side for three years and the all-rounder from Gujarat is an asset with both bat and ball.
Bowlers: Sandeep Sharma and Mohit Sharma have been brilliant this season. Both of them have picked up 12 wickets each and have been brilliant with the new ball and followed it up with some outstanding death bowling. Kings fans will hope that both the Sharmas be at their very best against the Sunrisers too.
KC Cariappa was poor against Mumbai and had gone for runs and Vijay will hope the mystery spinner from Karnataka will spin his magic against the likes of Warner and Dhawan.
Probable Playing 11: Murali Vijay (C), Hashim Amla, Wridhhiman Saha (wk), Glen Maxwell, David Miller, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Gurkeerat Mann Singh, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, KC Cariappa.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Batsmen: The Sunrisers are more than likely to continue with their opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner. The hard-hitting Aussie and the Sunrisers captain as always will look to provide a blistering start to the Hyderabad innings and Dhawan is more likely to play the anchor’s role.
Kane Williamson has provided solidarity to the Sunrisers batting line up and the Kiwi captain has been amongst the runs this season. Yuvraj Singh is likely to come in at number 4 and there surely isn’t any doubt over Yuvraj’s abilities with the bat. The hard-hitting Indian pair of Deepak Hooda and Naman Ojha is likely to come in at number 5 and 6 for the Orange army.
All-Rounders: Moises Henriques has started every game for the Sunrisers this season and is more than likely to be a part of the playing 11 against the Kings XI. The Aussie has managed to score 100 odd runs with the bat and pick up 9 wickets this term and will look to add to the tally in Mohali. Yuvraj too could also come in handy with the ball and if needed Warner might use the southpaw as a part-timer.
Bowlers: The Sunrisers bowlers have been just outstanding this season with Mustafizur Rahman being the surprise package. The young Bangladeshi bowler has not only picked up 13 wickets, but has also been hard to put away.
Ashish Nehra meanwhile seems to have rolled back the years and the veteran Indian bowler has been incredible after making his comeback post injury. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar with his swing bowling has been a great success and has picked up as many as 14 wickets and given his performances this IPL it will be hard for the Indian selectors to ignore him.
Barinder Sran too has been great this season and has picked up 9 wickets from 9 games he has played. The Sunrisers owe it to their bowlers for success this season and they will hope for more of the same from their bowlers against Kings XI.
Probable Playing 11: David Warner (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Yuvraj Singh, Deepak Hooda, Naman Ojha (wk), Moises Henriques, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman, Barinder Sran, Ashish Nehra.
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