Two extremely top-heavy teams, Team Hyderabad and Team Punjab (SRH vs KXIP) come together to find a way out of the bottom three of the Indian T20 League table. KXIP have lost their last three games and are languishing at the bottom of the table whereas SRH are currently sitting at sixth and will be looking to make inroads into the top four spots soon.
Team Hyderabad have been quite dominant over Punjab over the years in the competition. They have been on the right end of the result 10 times in 14 games and have also managed to win three out of the last five matches played between the two teams. Here’s what all to expect from SRH vs KXIP.
KEY BATTLES
Rashid Khan vs KL Rahul
This is the battle between the best bowler and the best batsman of their respective teams. SRH’s spinners have taken seven wickets so far, joint least by a team. Out of those seven, five have been picked up by Rashid Khan and that tells us the overreliance on him. The opposition teams have looked to play Rashid’s overs out and target the other bowlers.
However, his record against KXIP is impeccable. He has picked up 11 wickets against them, his most against any team in the competition.
KL Rahul has been brilliant in the tournament so far as he holds the Orange Cap currently. His record against Hyderabad has also been too good. He averages 52.40 with the bat against them and will add to this average.
Apart from Rashid no SRH bowler has troubled him, hence Rahul has a good chance of extending his good form in SRH vs KKR.
PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR
Jonny Bairstow
Last season, SRH had the most devastating opening partnership and Jonny Bairstow contributed to that massively. This season he hasn’t been in his usual touch but a big innings shouldn’t be too far off for him.
Nicholas Pooran
So far in the tournament, Nicholas Pooran has shown glimpses of his potential. Pooran after managing 17 runs in the first 2 matches has scored 102 runs in the last 3 matches at an average of 51. He has a brilliant strike rate of 223 in the last 3 matches compared to 80.95 in the first 2 matches.
PREDICTED LINE-UPS
SRH: David Warner (C), Jonny Bairstow (WK), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed
KXIP: KL Rahul (WK) (C), Mayank Agarwal, Mandeep Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Sarfaraz Khan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Chris Jordan, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Sheldon Cottrell
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