IPL 9, Match 34 Preview: Hosts Sunrisers look for Yuvraj boost against the Lions

Bolstered by the return of Yuvraj Singh, Sunrisers Hyderabad would look wrest the initiative at home when they take on the Gujarat Lions tomorrow. Yuvraj is yet to play his first game in this IPL since being ruled out after suffering an injury in the World T20 match against Australia. SRH have been in good form in recent times and will feel confident against the Lions who have lost their two previous encounters.

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

SRH enjoy a psychological advantage as they won against Gujarat Lions by a comprehensive 10 wickets in their previous meeting on April 21. After suffering early setbacks, Sunrisers Hyderabad made a quick turnaround with both their batting and bowling clicking together. Captain David Warner has been one of the top run-getters in the tournament and his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan also came up with substantial scores after being out of form initially.

Kane Williamson, the skipper of New Zealand team, joined SRH after recovering from an injury. He announced his arrival with a valuable 50 off 38 balls in the match against RCB and will look to continue his form. The home team would also be strengthened further with the arrival of Yuvraj in the already impressive bowling department. Sunrisers have quality bowlers in their ranks in seasoned Ashish Nehra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman and Moses Henriques who have contributed to their success in the completion thus far. Leg-spinner Karn Sharma may return in place of seamer Barinder Sran to add more variety to the bowling unit.

Gujarat Lions:

Starting with a string of victories, Gujarat Lions have hit a roadblock as they suffered defeats at the hands of laggards Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils in their last two outings at home. There are areas of concern for the team, particularly in the power play overs, as admitted by coach Brad Hodge after the loss against Delhi. These will need to be quickly addressed by Lions if they are to continue their progress in the competition. Lions’ batting has mostly revolved around explosive openers Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith. When the duo clicked, the Lions scored big.

Skipper Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik made useful contributions in the middle-order even though they failed in the match against Kings XI Punjab. The batting form of all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja though remains a cause for concern for the Gujarat outfit. On the bowling front, seamers Dhawal Kulkarni and Praveen Kumar have done well upfront, while left-arm chinaman bowler Shivil Kaushik was impressive against Kings XI Punjab. His unorthodox action will be the trump card against the aggressive batsmen of the home side.

Probable XI:

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

David Warner (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Yuvraj Singh, Naman Ojha (wk), Deepak Hooda, Moises Henriques, Karn Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Mehra Mustafizur Rahman.

Gujarat Lions:

Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Suresh Raina (C), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo/ James Faulkner, Ishan Kishan, Praveen Kumar, Shivil Kaushik, Dhawal Kulkarni.

StAttack:

1. SRH skipper David Warner is third on the list of leading run-scorers in this year’s IPL. He needs 14 more runs to complete 400 runs.

2. David Warner needs 83 runs to become the first overseas player to score 1000 runs at Hyderabad in all forms of cricket.

3. David Warner needs 89 runs for completing 3000 runs in IPL.

4. GL skipper Suresh Raina needs 48 more runs to complete 300 runs in this edition of the marquee T20 league.

5. Dwayne Bravo has thus far featured in 99 IPL matches, if he is fit, this will be his 100th IPL match.