With revenge on mind, Kings XI Punjab will host defending champion Sunrisers Hyderabad here on Friday. Given the unpredictability of the home team, Sunrisers has reasons to be wary of a serious backlash.
The teams won their first two matches of the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League and remain among the serious contenders to advance to the next stage. At present, around the half-way mark of the competition, they are doing the chasing as Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians look set to firm up their spots in the playoffs.
Sunrisers, the more balanced of the two teams, will look to repeat the dose to Kings XI given in what was the fifth match for the teams this year. That five-run victory had helped Sunrisers escape a hat-trick of defeats, having lost to Mumbai and Kolkata in succession.
Much has been said about the Sunrisers bowling resources, with Bhuvaneshwar Kumar topping the charts with 16 wickets and Rashid Khan accounting for 10, followed by veteran Ashish Nehra with five. With three of the four victories coming fielding second, Sunrisers bowlers obviously have reasons to feel upbeat.
However, the Sunrisers' batsmen are yet to perform to potential.
Though skipper David Warner (282 runs), fellow-opener Shikhar Dhawan (235) and Moises Henriques (193) have done the bulk of scoring, Yuvraj Singh’s form is a worrying factor. Kane Williamson looks in good touch but Deepak Hooda’s big hitting abilities are yet to come to the fore this season.
- Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner(Captain), Tanmay Agarwal, Ricky Bhui, Bipul Sharma, Ben Cutting, Shikhar Dhawan, Eklavya Dwivedi, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan,Siddharth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ben Laughlin, AbhimanyuMithun, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammed Siraj, Mustafizur Rahman,Ashish Nehra, Naman Ojha (wk), Rashid Khan, Vijay Shankar,Barinder Sran, Pravin Tambe, Kane Williamson and Yuvraj Singh.
- Kings XI Punjab: Glenn Maxwell (capt), David Miller, Manan Vohra, Hashim Amla, Shaun Marsh, Armaan Jaffer, Martin Guptill, Eoin Morgan, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Arman Jaffer, Anureet Singh, Mohit Sharma, KC Cariappa, Pradeep Sahu, Swapnil Singh, T Natrajan, Matt Henry, Varun Aaron, Axar Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Gurkeerat Mann, Rahul Tewatia, Darren Sammy, Wriddhiman Saha, Nikhil Naik, Ishant Sharma.
- Match starts 8pm.
Kings XI, on the other hand, is happy to return to their home stadium. They play two back-to-back matches twice in 12 days.
Kings XI continues to be an unpredictable challenger. After losing four matches on the trot, the team turned it around against Gujarat Lions, upbeat after softening up table-topper KKR. Unlike Sunrisers, Kings XI lacks the variety in its bowling to restrict run-making. So far, its ploy to invest in overseas batsmen and home-grown bowlers has brought limited dividends.
Though Hashim Amla’s form is the biggest gain for the Kings XI, with the bearded opener scoring 299 runs so far, skipper Glenn Maxwell (193) and Manan Vohra (176) have not fired. Shaun Marsh, David Miller, Eion Morgan and Wriddhiman Saha, too, have not shown match-winning form.
The composition of this team is much like Royal Challenge Bangalore that, on paper, has the batsmen to post formidable totals but lack the quality in bowling to be sure of stopping the opposition.
Axar Patel (122 runs and eight wickets) is clearly the one who, more of than not, contributes to the team’s cause.
Once again, it will be interesting to watch how the Kings XI’s batsmen deal with the Sunrisers bowling. Ten days back, in a low-scoring thriller, Kings XI folded at 154 in its chase of 159.
Again, a close contest is expected. It remains to be seen whether the all-round ability of Sunrisers comes good or Kings XI, in keeping with its unpredictability, exacts revenge.
