IPL 10, Match 19, SRH v KXIP Preview: Jolted sides aim to get back on winning ways

The Sunrisers Hyderabad have been seriously taken aback by their two consecutive defeats. They had started their campaign on a high but things dwindled as they shifted venues from home games to the away games. Now, SRH is back to their home venue Hyderabad. They will hope that their fortunes turn back in their favour with venue changing. They will be hosting the Kings XI Punjab in their third home match of the season.

The fortunes of the Kings have been no different either. They also started their campaign with home wins at Indore. Once they started travellings, they have found things to be very tough. Just like SRH, the Kings are also keen to get back to winning ways. Things have spiced up to be a highly entertaining match on the hands. Considering the team combinations, both look evenly matched on paper.

KXIP and SRH rely heavily on their batting unit. While the Sunrisers are overly dependent on their opening duo of David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan, the Kings are dependent on their middle order. Glenn Maxwell and David Miller have been doing the bulk of the scoring for them in the past and the team will look to them for some good scores this game as well.

Toss:  Kings XI Punjab won the toss and opted to field

Quotes from the toss:

David Warner: It is disappointing on the road. But we are back home and need to get back to winning. We have got four changes: Nabi makes his debut and so does Siddharth Kaul.

Glenn Maxwell: We are going to have a bowl. We prefer chasing and you saw how we played in the first two games.

Focus will be on

Glenn Maxwell

Kings XI Punjab skipper Glenn Maxwell started the tournament on a high. He remained unbeaten in the first two matches for his side and that saw him win the match for his side. In the matches that followed, he has failed to deliver the goods for the team. In the last match, he was sent packing for a duck by Amit Mishra. His weaknesses against the leg spinners has been evident. He would want to reinstate his authority in the tournament as soon as possible.

Wriddhiman Saha

Wriddhiman Saha has been a top performer for the Indian team in the recent past. He has been going through a purple patch with the bat. Also, in the recent times including his appearances in the IPL have seen him take some exceptional catches. Prior to the commencement of the IPL 2017, Saha had remarked that he is keen on translating his good form with the bat in the Test cricket to the shortest format of the game. However, he has been largely unsuccessful in his attempt to do so in the tournament thus far.

Shikhar Dhawan

Sunrisers Hyderabad opener Shikhar Dhawan started the tournament on a high with a score of 40 odd runs. However, post that match, he has failed to be among the runs. He did get another start in the previous match but was not at his comfortable best. The team would want him to be in the same form from where he had left in the previous edition of the tournament. Batting with David Warner, he holds the key for the starts that SRH get in every match. A failure from either of them sees the inconsistent middle order get exposed.

Team Combination – Sunrisers Hyderabad

The Sunrisers are expected to field the same team that played the last game. They had surprisingly dropped Mustafizur Rahman in the lineup in order to accommodate the services of Moises Henriques. Henriques deserves to get another go in the tournament. the middle order showed some mettle in the previous fixtures as Yuvraj Singh and Deepak Hooda have got starts this season. The hard-hitting batting prowess of Ben Cutting is well known to all.

The bowling unit has been the forte of the SRH camp. It was their bowling that had propelled them to their maiden title triumph. Ashish Nehra and Bhuveshwar Kumar add balance to the lineup with their experience. Rashid Khan has been their most successful bowler thus far and has bowled his googlies with great precision. He will be supported by Bipul Sharma in the spin department.

Team Combination – Kings XI Punjab

The Kings XI Punjab roped in the services of Eoin Morgan at the expense of Marcus Stoinis in the previous match. It will only be unfair if they leave out Morgan again from the setup. Hashim Amla and Manan Vohra have been impressive in the top order. They have managed to give decent starts to the team in the matches thus far. Glenn Maxwell had fired well in the first two matches and the team will hope that those were not rare pieces of his craftsmanship.

In the bowling lineup, they have a good bunch of Indian talent. Mohit Sharma is the seniormost player in the line up. Sandeep Sharma and Varun Aaron are likely to retain their place in the side as well. The Kings might get tempted to play Ishant Sharma at the expense of Aaron in the match. Aaron had turned out to be very expensive in the match. In the spin department, KC Cariappa and Axar Patel look set in the line up.

Playing XI

Kings XI Punjab: Manan Vohra, Hashim Amla, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Eoin Morgan, David Miller, Glenn Maxwell(c), Axar Patel, Mohit Sharma, KC Cariappa, Ishant Sharma, Sandeep Sharma

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Yuvraj Singh, Deepak Hooda, Mohammad Nabi, Naman Ojha(w), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Barinder Sran, Siddarth Kaul

StatAttack 

12 – Maxwell needs 12 runs to complete 1000 runs for KXIP in IPL.

33 – David Warner has 33 fifties to his name – the joint most fifties in IPL history along with Gautam Gambhir.

141 – Number of sixes hit by David Warner in IPL. This is the 6th most sixes hit by a player in the tournament history.

1349 – Number of runs scored by Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner at the top order last year for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2016.