Not even in their wildest of dreams would have Gujarat Lions anticipated such a brutal thrashing by the hands of the Kolkata Knight Riders at Rajkot. Chris Lynn, bound to have a million new fans over the upcoming days, single-handedly ravaged all hopes of the Lions last night as the Knight Riders strolled home to a target of 184 with over 5 overs to spare and with all ten wickets intact.
Things only look uphill for the Lions as they brace for a stiff challenge in the form of defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad. Sunrisers’ beginning to this campaign has been drastically different to that of the Suresh Raina-led outfit, as they thumped the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the season opener this time around.
Being the afternoon game at 4:00 PM, the wicket will assist spin surely but will also challenge all the players as the soaring temperatures of Hyderabad will be a big factor.
PREVIOUS ENCOUNTER:
In the previous season, these sides met each other on three occasions and the results are completely skewed in favour of the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The David Warner led side had the stick over the Gujarat Lions on all three occasions, including their previous clash, which was the all important second qualifier at Delhi.
Batting first, the Lions raked up 162 in their allotted overs, with Aaron Finch scoring a rapid half-century while batting in the middle order. Sunrisers seemed down and out at one stage with no one supporting David Warner but the skipper remained rock solid. It was a complete one man show from Warner as the Australian southpaw ravaged his way to a match-winning knock of 93 off just 58 deliveries as the Sunrisers advanced to the finals.
Recent form this season:
SRH: W
GL: L
Talking Points:
The issue to address for Gujarat Lions is simple indeed as it is their bowling. With just one genuine overseas pacer in the form of the inexperienced Andrew Tye, the side is headed for more worries if the Indian bowlers don’t stand up. One expected change should be the return of James Faulkner ideally in place of an extra batsman, in the form of either Jason Roy or Aaron Finch.
Suresh Raina as a captain also needs to step up and be more proactive. His approach against the Knight Riders inspired no confidence and he seemed demotivated from the very offset. With veteran pacers underperforming, the India discard must give a rope to some young Indian pacers like Nathu Singh or Basil Thampi.
Predicted GL XI:
- B. McCullum 2. A. Finch 3. S. Raina 4. D. Karthik 5. D. Smith 6. J. Faulkner 7. P. Kumar 8. D. Kulkarni 9. P. Sangwan 10. S. Kaushik 11. S. Jakati