The 48th match of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings Xi Punjab kicks off the final week of league matches. The tie between the fourth and fifth-placed teams will see one team a taking a two-point from the other to march towards the playoffs.
Meanwhile, Kings XI Punjab have suffered consecutive defeats which have put their qualification in jeopardy. The team have looks out of socks when Chris Gayle and KL Rahul have failed to put on a good start. Their pacers have been expensive, but R Ashwin has ensured the team’s through the process hasn’t changed in defeat. Punjab might include Sam Curran in the playing XI to exploit his three-dimensional ability in a crunch encounter.
On the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad will depend on David Warner and Manish Pandey who started the tournament in the worst way possible. However, the host needs to tinker their batting line-up bringing Wriddhiman Saha at the top to strengthen their middle over. Kane Williamson will slot down to one down position. The bowling has also not been consistent and they need to strike back if they want to keep their hopes alive in the tournament.
Kings XI Punjab have not beaten Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last four games at Hyderabad, and have won only one of their six away games this season.
Toss Report
Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson has lost the toss and were put to bat first against Kings XI Punjab at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Here is what the captains said,
Kane Williamson
We would have bowled first as well. As Ash said, looks a good wicket that won’t change much but can’t do much now. He’s been outstanding all season but as a batting unit collectively, we need to do well. As Ash said, it’s business time of the season and we need to do well but also express ourselves. Three changes – Abhishek, Nabi and Sandeep come in.
Ravichandran Ashwin
Looks like a good deck, doesn’t look it will change much. We’re gonna bowl first. It’s important to start afresh, we have had a good break. There were some close games and we could have ended on the right side of it but that’s how the format is, that’s how the IPL is. It’s an emotional roller-coaster ride. We also have three changes – PrabhSimran Singh makes his debut and Mujeeb is also back. One more change that I can’t quite remember. He (PrabhSimran) is a fine talent from U19s and we hope he can express himself.
Playing XI
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner, Kane Williamson (c), Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, K Khaleel Ahmed
Kings XI Punjab: Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, David Miller, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Simran Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Murugan Ashwin, Ankit Rajpoot, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rahman