OVERVIEW:
Unfortunately, the final league game of this year’s IPL has turned out to be a dead rubber. Since the available four playoff spots have been taken, there’ll be no changes after this clash. But still a humongous win for either side will give them a 5th spot or rather a win will give them the 6th place in the points table.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: At the halfway mark of the tournament, Sunrisers were well on course for a play off berth sitting 2nd in the points table with 5 wins and 2 losses. But because of a sudden lump (5 consecutive losses) they now find themselves out of the league. They could take away a lot of positives as Abhishek Sharma finally was given a long run and proved to be worthy. Rahul Tripathi showed that he’s ready for the international arena with his strike rate and consistency. Natarajan was back to his wicket taking form after a disappointing season last time. But their find of the tournament would be Umran Malik. Clicking 150kph regularly, uprooting the stumps regularly, and that Steyn Gun celebration too. You wouldn’t have imagined that an Indian pacer would do this. But Umran made it happen. They also had their negatives as well and the biggest one is their captain’s form. His lack of runs and unimpressive strike rate has proved that costly at times. Anyways they’ll look to sign off with a victory.
PUNJAB KINGS: After the auction day, everyone thought that Punjab would be a serious contender. But certain strategic blunders have made sure that they’ll miss the playoffs for the 8th consecutive season. Their approach of being aggressive throughout the innings has cost them few games. Their run rate in the last 4 overs of the innings is the worst among the 10 teams. This is because of the all-out approach that they followed where they lost wickets in clusters in the middle phase. Dhawan, Rabada and Arshdeep have been performing consistently but their captain Mayank Agarwal and Rahul Chahar had a disappointing season. Especially Mayank looks totally out of touch and the captaincy pressure might be a reason. Both these teams have nothing to lose here, so they’ll look to finish the tournament on a positive note.
PROBABLE PLAYING XI:
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: Abhishek Sharma, Priyam Garg, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (c), Fazalhaq Farooqi, Umran Malik, T Natarajan
(As Kane Williamson has flown back to New Zealand for the birth of his child, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar is expected to lead them).
PUNJAB KINGS: Jonny Bairstow, Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal (c), Liam Livingstone, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan or Ishan Porel or Vaibhav Arora, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
(Kings expected a bit more from what Rishi Dhawan has done so far, so they might try Ishan Porel / Vaibhav Arora.)
PITCH REPORT:
The Wankhede Stadium has been used a lot in the recent games. It’s proven that there is no significant advantage for neither team, so toss won’t be a big factor. Seamers have enjoyed a bit more than the spinners and spinners who rely on line and length might find some success.
STATS & MILESTONES:
- Dhawan needs 1 more four to reach 700 fours in the league and will be the first one to do it.
- Rabada needs 2 more wickets to reach 100 IPL wickets.
- Shreyas Gopal is one wicket and one game away from 50 wickets and 50 games in the league respectively.
- Pooran is 93 runs away from 1000 IPL runs.
FANTASY & DREAM 11 TEAM:
