SRH look to do their bit for top-two finish against weakened Punjab Kings – T20 IPL 2024

Match details

Sunrisers Hyderabad (third) vs Punjab Kings (ninth)
Hyderabad, 1530 IST (1000 GMT)

Big picture – SRH, rusty or rejuvenated?

A washout in their last game against Gujarat Titans means SRH are no longer in control of their fate. Even if they win against PBKS on Sunday afternoon, a top-two finish is not guaranteed. For that to happen, Rajasthan Royals will have to lose against Kolkata Knight Riders later in the day.

Before the GT game, SRH’s previous outing was on May 8, against Lucknow Super Giants, when they chased down 166 inside ten overs. That means they will be in action after a gap of ten days. It needs to be seen if they will be rusty or rejuvenated.

PBKS were ruled out of the playoffs race long back, and most of their overseas players have returned home for various reasons. Kagiso Rabada left with an infection in his lower limb; Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow and Sikandar Raza for national duties; Chris Woakes for family reasons.

Jitesh Sharma, who will lead the side on Sunday, has only two overseas players available: Rilee Rossouw and Nathan Ellis. With nothing to lose, this opens up an opportunity for domestic players to make an impression.

Form guide

Sunrisers Hyderabad WLWLL (last five completed matches, most recent first) Punjab Kings WLLWW

Previous meeting

When these two sides met earlier in the season, SRH found themselves on 39 for 3 inside the powerplay after being sent in. But Nitish Kumar Reddy’s 64 off 37 balls lifted them to 182 for 9. In response, PBKS also suffered a collapse before Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma revived them. Eventually, they fell short by two runs.

Team news and impact player strategy

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Will SRH bring back Aiden Markram for Sri Lankan legspinner Vijayakanth Viyaskanth? Without Markram, the batting looks a bit thin but Viyaskanth impressed with figures of 4-0-27-0 against LSG. Another option is to draft in either Mayank Agarwal or Rahul Tripathi for allrounder Sanvir Singh.

Abhishek Sharma could be their Impact Player if they bowl first and T Natarajan if they bat.

Probable XII 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Mayank Agarwal/Rahul Tripathi, 4 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, 12 T Natarajan

Punjab Kings

In the absence of Curran and Bairstow, Rishi Dhawan and Atharva Taide could get a chance. Prabhsimran Singh and Arshdeep Singh are likely to be their Impact Player options.

Probable XII 1 Prabhsimran Singh, 2 Atharva Taide, 3 Rilee Rossouw, 4 Shashank Singh, 5 Jitesh Sharma (capt, wk), 6 Ashutosh Sharma, 7 Rishi Dhawan, 8 Harpreet Brar, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Nathan Ellis, 11 Rahul Chahar, 12 Arshdeep Singh

In the spotlight – Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel

Bhuvneshwar Kumar started IPL 2024 with figures of 0 for 51 and 0 for 53. A few games later, he had 0 for 60 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. But after just four wickets in the first eight games, he has picked up seven in the last four. As usual, he has been at his best in the powerplay – ten of his 11 wickets have come in this phase, the most for any bowler this season.

Harshal Patel, too, did not have a great start to the season. He went for 44 or more in each of his first four games. But after that, he turned it around and is currently the leading wicket-taker of the season with 22 scalps. His economy has also come down to 9.51. With Rabada and Curran unavailable, he will have to shoulder extra responsibility if PBKS are to end on a positive note.

Stats that matter

Bhuvneshwar has dismissed Prabhsimran three times in 11 balls while conceding only 15 runs.
Rossouw has scored only five runs in ten balls (no dismissal) against Bhuvneshwar and 14 runs in 12 balls (one dismissal) against Pat Cummins.
Abhishek has hit Arshdeep for 34 runs off 23 balls without getting out even once.
Harshal has dismissed Heinrich Klaasen three times in 30 balls while giving away only 38 runs.
Reddy has enjoyed batting against Harpreet Brar: 38 runs in 16 balls, no dismissal.

Pitch and conditions

Hyderabad has been a high-scoring venue this IPL, with an average first-innings score of 203. Only the Arun Jaitely Satdium (10.69) has seen a higher run rate than Hyderabad’s 9.94. However, the weather could play spoilsport once again as there is a 30% chance of rain.

Quotes

“I am someone who is never happy [with his performance] but I love it when the team wins. I agree I have been a bit up and down but my intent was very good, my intention was very good. I think I had good learnings this year and because now I have seen this phase, it’s better for me in future.”
Jitesh Sharma – 155 runs at a strike rate of 122.04 – reflects on his season

Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Source: ESPN Crickinfo