With just a solitary away win in this year’s campaign, reigning champions Sunrisers Hyderabad travel to Kanpur to take on Gujarat Lions knowing that their chances of making it through to the playoffs are in their hands. Irrespective of the other results a win over Suresh Raina’s side will ensure SRH’s place in the playoffs whereas a defeat will mean that they will have to hope Rising Pune Supergiant beat Kings XI Punjab in their final game on Sunday.
Gujarat Lions’ batting has flourished throughout the tournament with Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik and Aaron Finch consistently among the runs. But injuries and poor form have meant that their bowling line-up has struggled to back up the batsmen. Wickets have been a premium and irrespective of the number of different spinners they have tried, Lions haven't been able to cause the required damage with the ball, which has ensured a seventh-placed finish in IPL 2017.
Despite neither Mustafizur Rahman nor Ashish Nehra being a regular member of SRH's bowling unit, they have still been impressive with the ball. Bhuvneshwar Kumar continued from where he left off last season, Rashid Khan has been a revelation and so has Siddarth Kaul with his exceptional control and variety.
Their openers, David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan are in great form and the middle-order have been amongst the runs as well. It will be interesting to see if Kane Williamson continues to be on the bench or gets back into the side for the final group game.
With both sides boasting of a batting line-up in good form, it looks set to be a high-scoring clash at Kanpur, where the surface has been surprisingly docile, despite having a history of favouring the spinners. With SRH needing the victory to secure a playoff spot and boasting of the better bowling line-up, it will be interesting to see which side will come out on top in their respective final games of the group stage.
Match date: 13-04-2017Match time: 1600 hours (IST)Venue: Green Park Stadium, Kanpur
If Gujarat Lions bat first
Predicted score: 175+
The loss of Brendon McCullum to injury hasn’t been a huge blow for the Lions courtesy of the form of their top order. While their batting has seldom let them down this season despite all the changes, their bowling continues to be an area of concern.
Suresh Raina continues to be amongst the runs even if he hasn’t been picked for the Champions Trophy and both Dinesh Karthik and Aaron Finch have made the most of their opportunities. Ishan Kishan has shown plenty of promise as an opener and Dwayne Smith has shown just how destructive he can be at the top of the order.
The problem for the Lions hasn’t been their batting, which is one of the most explosive in the tournament, but their bowling, which has continually let them down. While the likes of Raina, Karthik and Finch have put plenty of runs on the board, their bowlers have struggled to defend it.
The fact that their best bowler (Dwayne Bravo) was ruled out of the tournament and their leading wicket-taker (Andrew Tye) suffered an injury that ruled him out of the tournament hasn’t helped their cause. Especially when Ravindra Jadeja hasn’t been on target with the ball even if he has been sublime in the fielding department.
Sunrisers Hyderabad boast of one of the best death bowling line-ups in this year’s tournament. While Lions’ explosive batting line-up will be amongst the runs on a true batting surface, getting too many off the likes of Kaul and Bhuvi at the death won’t be easy, so they will need a good start.
If Sunrisers Hyderabad bat first
Predicted score: 190+
After a strong start, SRH started fading away but they know that they have destiny in their own hands as they go into their final group game against Gujarat Lions. While their bowling has traditionally been their strong suit, their batting has bailed them out on occasions this season.
With both openers, Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner in brilliant form, SRH have managed to overcome the shortcomings of their bowling attack, which is still one of the best in the tournament.
Since his century, Warner hasn’t scored a fifty and by his standards, the current Orange cap holder would consider that a blip that he will need to come through with a fifty. Dhawan’s impressive form has assured him of a spot in India’s Champions Trophy squad and he will look to continue that till the end of the tournament.
Williamson was dropped in favour of Mohammad Nabi in the last game and it will be interesting to see if they do it again. Without him, the batting does look slightly week even if Moises Henriques and Yuvraj Singh have been in decent form this season.
With the ball, Bhuvneshwar Kumar continues to be amongst the wickets and while Rashid Khan has not picked up as many wickets recently as he did at the start, he has continued to be economical. With Siddarth Kaul impressing as well, SRH have the bowling line-up to defend any total even if their batting falters, which is unlikely on a true batting surface.
Predicted winners: Sunrisers Hyderabad
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