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Thanks to the mega auction-loving nature of the IPL, there's always an issue of players constantly switching franchises and representing multiple teams within a short span of time. Even when two teams contest in the league, there are always at least a few players who have played for the opposing side in the past.
The same is true for Tuesday's encounter between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Mullanpur. And instead of revealing which good players are common on both franchises' present or past roasters, we have gone one step further and picked a nice 12 using them. Check it out:
Openers: Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow
The current PBKS openers have played the same role for SRH as well, although at different times. Dhawan was with SRH in their initial years, having transitioned from the Deccan Chargers. Apart from leading them in a few games, he scored 2768 runs at an average of 35.03, and is the second-highest in the franchise's history.
After Dhawan left in 2018, they replaced him with English wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow, who had a much better time at SRH in 2019-2021 compared to PBKS. He scored 1038 runs for them at an average of 41.52, striking at 142.19, in what were his first years in the IPL. At PBKS, he has managed to score 334 runs at 22.26 so far.
Middle-order: Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (c), Aiden Markram, Nicolas Pooran (wk) and Shashank Singh
Karnataka men Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul both spent some good times at PBKS before moving to SRH and Lucknow Super Giants, respectively.
After starting his career at Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Rahul played for SRH in 2014-15, mostly in the middle-order, scoring just 308 runs in 16 innings.
A return to RCB made him shine as an opener and he stuck to it after moving to PBKS for 2018-2021. In that time, he became the franchise's highest-ever run-scorer with 2548 runs at an average of 56.62.
Although he doesn't prefer the middle-order role anymore in T20s, it's something that many experts profess for him, especially in a T20 World Cup year, which is why we have kept him at number four in this team. Given he has the best captaincy record in this 11, he'll also take the armband.
Mayank also captained PBKS for a bit in his four years between 2018-2022 in Punjab while also scoring 1513 runs - their fourth best. However, he has struggled to have a similar impact at SRH and is currently out of the first 11.
To add meat to that middle-order would be big-hitters Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, and Shashank Singh.
Markram is currently at SRH but had a short stint at PBKS as a replacement for Dawid Malan in 2021. Pooran spent two contrasting years at PBKS (350 runs at a strike rate of 169.71 in 2021 followed by just 85 runs in 12 matches in 2022) before collecting 306 runs at 38.25 and a strike rate of 144.34 for SRH in 2023.
Shashank Singh, who reached levels of an IPL folk hero by helping PBKS chase an improbable 200-run target against Gujarat Titans, was with SRH in IPL 2022. In a disastrous campaign for the Orange Army, he batted five times without any notable contributions except for a six-ball 25 against the Titans in his first innings. He'll be the perfect finisher for this team, complimenting Markram and Pooran.
Bowlers: Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sandeep Sharma, Ishant Sharma, T Natarajan
PBKS and SRH have a host of excellent fast bowlers in common: T Natarajan, Ishant Sharma, and Sandeep Sharma. All of them easily make this team.
PBKS were the first to sign Natarajan in 2017 when he was making waves in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL). However, the left-arm pacer didn't even bowl his full quota even once in six matches at PBKS. He didn't get a game at SRH for a couple of years despite his move in 2018 but is now one of their best bowlers.
Sandeep Sharma, meanwhile, has been one of the best pacers in IPL for many years, across multiple franchises, and is currently at Rajasthan Royals. He had two stints at PBKS in 2013–17 and 2022. In between those years, he was at SRH. For PBKS, he picked up 73 wickets at 23.84 in 61 matches and is still their second-highest wicket-taker. For SRH, he took 41 wickets in 43 matches at 30.78.
Ishant Sharma would be Sandeep's deputy in leading this bowling attack, thanks to his experience. Like Dhawan, the current Delhi Capitals speedster went from the Chargers to SRH in IPL 2013 for a couple of years before moving to Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016 and PBKS for a year in 2017.
For SRH, he picked up a decent 19 wickets in 23 matches at 38.21. But 2017 was his worst IPL year as he didn't take even one wicket.
For spin, this team would have to rely on Mujeeb ur Rahman because there aren't many better options who have played for both teams in the IPL. The Afghan was signed by PBKS for 2018-21 and reposed their faith with 17 wickets in 18 games. He played just one game for SRH in 2021 where he took two wickets.
Impact Player: Barinder Sran
The above playing 11 is for a batting-first side. Barinder Sran, who played eight international matches for India was an underrated fast-bowler, especially with the new ball, in his prime. He'd be the impact player for this IPL team.
Sran represented SRH in 2016–17 and PBKS in 2018, taking 14 wickets (15 matches) and four wickets (six matches), respectively.
