The Gujarat Lions will look to continue their dream run in the VIVO IPL 2016 when they take on a formidable Sunrisers Hyderabad team at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad on Friday. The Lions have impressed one and all with an impressive showing in their debut season as they have won 6 out of their 9 matches and are on the verge of sealing a berth in the playoffs. The Sunrisers have not been doing badly either as they recovered from 2 successive losses at the start of the season to be placed 5th in the points table with 4 wins from 7 games. The two teams have already played each other this year and it was the Hyderabad team which had emerged victorious by 10 wickets.
Here's how Sunrisers Hyderabad may line up for the match:
Batting
Skipper David Warner has been the driving force behind the SRH batting this season with 386 runs in 7 innings so far. The swashbuckling opener averages 77.20 in the tournament and has scored his runs at a strike rate of slightly over 168. His opening partner, Shikhar Dhawan, has also been in decent form as he has 181 runs at an average of above 36.
Kane Williamson made a great comeback from injury as he smashed a half-century in his very first match this year. Another good thing for the Sunrisers batting is the fact that Yuvraj Singh is may be returning for their match against Gujarat Lions. The team will be banking on the southpaw to produce the goods as most of their batsmen apart from the openers are struggling for form.
The batsmen need to get their act together even more if Sunrisers Hyderabad want to make it through to the playoffs in the 2016 IPL.
All-rounders
The all-rounders have not made much of a contribution for the Hyderabad side till now in this edition of the IPL. The likes of Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda and Ashish Reddy have all struggled to create an impression and the team has had to depend primarily on their specialists to do the job. SRH will be looking to utilise the returning Yuvraj Singh's all-round abilities going forward in the tournament. It will be interesting to see if their all-rounders can step up to the plate during the business end of the tournament.
Bowling
Sunrisers Hyderabad's greatest strength in the 2016 IPL has surely been their successful bowling attack, particularly the pacers. While Bhuvneshwar Kumar has picked up the most wickets for his team with 10 in his kitty already, Mustafizur Rahman has turned out to be the difference-maker for them with 8 wickets at an outstanding economy rate of 6.53.
Young Indian fast bowler Barinder Sran has also produced a whole-hearted performance every time he has bowled and has claimed 5 wickets in as many games to show for his efforts. Veteran paceman Ashish Nehra has also bowled decently to pick up 2 wickets in 3 matches whereas medium pacer Henriques has taken 4 wickets so far.
The spin attack has not been too visible for SRH as none of their tweakers has made an impression thus far. As the race for the playoffs begins to heat up, the Sunrisers bowling line-up will need to perform well as a unit instead of depending on one or two bowlers.
Probable Playing XI
David Warner (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Yuvraj Singh, Moises Henriques, Naman Ojha (wk), Deepak Hooda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Barinder Sran, Mustafiuzur Rahman, Ashish Nehra.
Here's the likely team that may represent the Gujarat Lions in the match:
Batting
The Gujarat Lions has been one of the very few sides in the tournament which has not depended on one or two batsmen in terms of their batting. Captain Suresh Raina has been their highest run-scorer with 252 runs in 9 innings. Brendon McCullum has also shown decent form with a tally of 220 runs.
Dinesh Karthik has been quite steady in the middle order and is the 3rd GL batsman with over 200 runs to his name. West Indian batsman Dwayne Smith has formed a smashing opening pair with McCullum and scored 178 runs at a good average of 35.60. Aaron Finch may have had to sit out of a few games, but he was easily Gujarat's best batsman in the initial stages.
The Lions batting line-up has been guilty of failing as a unit in some of the matches this year and they will need to rectify their issues before the business end of the tournament.
All-rounders
Most of the top all-rounders in the Gujarat Lions side such as Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja and James Faulkner have not lived up to their tag this season. Bravo and Jadeja have been bowling well but their batting has not been at its best by far. On the other Faulkner, has been mediocre with both bat and ball. The Gujarat all-rounders will need to play to their potential in order to support their team's campaign further in the tournament.
Bowling
A good showing with the ball has been one of the primary reasons behind a successful campaign for the Lions so far. Bravo has led the way with 10 wickets in 9 matches whereas pace bowler Dhawal Kulkarni is their second most successful bowler with 7 scalps to his name in the 2016 season.
The spin attack has also looked pretty formidable with Jadeja having picked up 6 wickets and leggie Pravin Tambe with 5 wickets in his kitty. Young left-arm chinaman Shivil Kaushik has impressed everyone with his amazing control despite having such a difficult action. The IPL newcomer has picked up 4 wickets in 3 matches already.
The Gujarat Lions bowlers need to maintain their good form in the matches to come so that they can help their team make it to the playoffs in their very first year.
Probable Playing XI
Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina (c), Aaron Finch, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Eklavya Dwivedi, James Faulkner, Praveen Kumar, Shivil Kaushik, Dhawal Kulkarni.
