It could be termed as a contest between equals between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants, both with 12 points each from 11 games, when the two teams clash in the IPL league match. However the home team has an edge playing in familiar conditions and what is expected to be another perfect T20 pitch at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad on May 8.
It is a must-win game for both the sides as any loss here at this stage would only dent further the hopes of making it to the play-offs.
Both the teams have three games to make amends and in quick time too. For Sunrisers, the loss against Mumbai Indians was a wake-up call with the batters struggling on a pitch which was helpful to the bowlers. With the exception of a lucky Travis Head at the top and a belligerent captain Pat Cummins down the order, the others were not up to the task.
The conditions here are expected to be different and far more easier for SRH to provide freedom to the free-stroking batters.
It would be interesting to see whether Sunrisers pick the big-hitting New Zealand all-rounder Glen Phillips, who has been mostly confined to the dug-out this season.
For Super Giants, which will be playing last three away games, captain and opener K.L. Rahul needs to lead by example to inspire his team and rediscover the winning touch.
Dark clouds and sharp drizzle forced cancellation of the practice session of Lucknow which turned up at the venue this evening, while Sunrisers had no training schedule.
Squads
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Glenn Phillips (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Upendra Yadav (wk), Jhathavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh, Mayank Agarwal.
Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul (c & wk), Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Shamar Joseph, Yash Thakur, Manimaran Siddharth, Prerak Mankad, Arshad Khan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Amit Mishra, Kyle Mayers, Ashton Turner, Matt Henry, Naveen-ul-Haq, Devdutt Padikkal, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Mayank Yadav, Arshin Kulkarni.
Match starts 7:30 p.m. IST.
