April 17: Punjab Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 28th match, DY Patil Stadium
Safe XI: Nicholas Pooran, Jitesh Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi (capt), Liam Livingstone, Kagiso Rabada, T Natarajan (vice-capt), Rahul Chahar, Marco Jansen
Captain: Rahul Tripathi
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s leading run-scorer so far this season with 171 runs in five outings, Tripathi is our choice as captain. His biggest strength is his run-scoring in the middle overs. Tripathi has scored 128 runs in 71 balls in the middle overs this season, at a strike rate of 180.28. His scores against Punjab last season are 34 (26) and 41 (32).
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s leading run-scorer so far this season with 171 runs in five outings, Tripathi is our choice as captain. His biggest strength is his run-scoring in the middle overs. Tripathi has scored 128 runs in 71 balls in the middle overs this season, at a strike rate of 180.28. His scores against Punjab last season are 34 (26) and 41 (32).
Vice-captain: T Natarajan
With 11 wickets in five outings, Natarajan is the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament so far. He also has the most wickets at the death so far this season: six wickets in seven overs, at an average of 13. He has not gone wicketless even once in his last 16 T20 appearances.
With 11 wickets in five outings, Natarajan is the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament so far. He also has the most wickets at the death so far this season: six wickets in seven overs, at an average of 13. He has not gone wicketless even once in his last 16 T20 appearances.
Hot picks
Shikhar Dhawan: The Punjab Kings opener is the only player from his side to feature in the top-performing fantasy players list across all the games he has played in this season, which shows his consistency. He has recorded four scores of 30 or more runs in five games and is the leading run-scorer so far for his side. His last three scores against his former side Sunrisers are 42, 28 and 78.
Shikhar Dhawan: The Punjab Kings opener is the only player from his side to feature in the top-performing fantasy players list across all the games he has played in this season, which shows his consistency. He has recorded four scores of 30 or more runs in five games and is the leading run-scorer so far for his side. His last three scores against his former side Sunrisers are 42, 28 and 78.
Liam Livingstone: The hard-hitting England allrounder has made a couple of telling contributions with the bat – 60 (32) and 64 (27) – so far this season. His batting strike rate of 186.36 is the second-best for a batter with 100-plus runs, only behind Dinesh Karthik’s strike rate of 218.33.
Differential picks
Marco Jansen: The tall left-arm pacer from South Africa has been enjoying the pace and bounce he has been able to extract from the pitches so far in this season. He has taken a wicket in each of his three outings so far. His economy of 6.91 is also the best so far among the bowlers from his side, Sunrisers.
Marco Jansen: The tall left-arm pacer from South Africa has been enjoying the pace and bounce he has been able to extract from the pitches so far in this season. He has taken a wicket in each of his three outings so far. His economy of 6.91 is also the best so far among the bowlers from his side, Sunrisers.
Jitesh Sharma: Kings’ wicketkeeper-batter has been impressive with both bat and the gloves this season. He has recorded scores of 30* (15), 23 (11) and 26 (17), and has taken three catches, which makes him a mandatory pick in our safe XI. In the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (India’s domestic T20 tournament), he scored 214 runs in seven outings for Vidarbha, at a strike rate of 235.16, which was the best in the tournament for any player with 50 or more runs.
High Risk XI: Jonny Bairstow, Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, Liam Livingstone (capt), Abhishek Sharma, Kagiso Rabada (vice-capt), Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik
Source: ESPN Crickinfo