Batbricks7

Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Punjab Kings

Sunday, May 19 at 3:30 PM

Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad

HEAD TO HEAD
Total            : 22
SRH Won    : 15
PBKS Won  : 7

High-scoring games have been the flavour of Hyderabad and this match too is expected to adhere to the norm. Showers disrupted the practice sessions on Saturday (May 18) and more rain is forecast for the afternoon-evening period on the match day.

Sunrisers Hyderabad who have brought the house down with their ferocious batting in this IPL, will look to sustain that intensity going up against the Kings who will be missing several key players in their last match. The hosts, however, haven't had any onfield action for a while now. They had a seven-day break after their fiery performance against Lucknow Super Giants, which has extended to 10 days of non-action now due to the abandoned match. Will there be any rustiness?

Punjab Kings having not made the playoffs for 10 successive seasons now, will be hoping to sign off with a consolation win. They come into this game with some confidence, having overpowered the Royals in their previous match, but have a severely depleted side with the bulk of their overseas players having departed. And even in their last victory, it was the middle order that stood up and delivered, with their top-order woes not showing any signs of relenting. PBKS's top three have scored the least runs among all teams in this IPL and have the least number of fifty-plus scores as well, highlighting their major issue this season. Can they find a way around it in their last match?

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has favourable numbers against Prabhsimran Singh, having dismissed him twice in 10 deliveries in the IPL - and three dismissals in 11 deliveries including the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali match between Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Both Bhuvneshwar has also kept Rilee Rossouw quiet, giving away only 5 runs in 10 deliveries, although he's yet to dismiss him, while the South African has scored 14 runs in 12 balls with one dismissal against Pat Cummins.

Injury/Availability: Sunrisers do not have any fitness concerns at the moment

Probable XI: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Sanvir Singh, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth. [Impact sub: T Natarajan].

Punjab Kings

Rahul Chahar is a good option for PBKS to be used early, with the legspinner having accounted for Abhishek Sharma twice in 10 deliveries for only 7 runs. Harshal Patel matches up well against Heinrich Klaasen, with two dismissals in 14 balls for 22 runs.

Injury/Availability: Jitesh Sharma turned up for the captains' meeting before the start of the season as Shikhar Dhawan and Sam Curran hadn't joined the team yet. As it turns out, he will lead Punjab Kings in their last match of the competition as Dhawan continues his recovery from a shoulder injury while Sam Curran has left for England along with Jonny Bairstow to join the national side for the T20I series against Pakistan. With Kagiso Rabada, Liam Livingstone, Sikandar Raza and Chris Woakes also unavailable, PBKS have only two overseas options - Rilee Rossouw and Nathan Ellis - for their match against SRH. Meanwhile, they are likely to include Atharva Taide as one of their openers, replacing Bairstow, and perhaps bring in Rishi Dhawan in place of Curran.

Probable XI: Prabhsimran Singh, Atharva Taide, Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, Jitesh Sharma (c & wk), Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Harshal Patel, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar. [Impact sub: Arshdeep Singh].