Going into the weekend high on confidence, both Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) lost their respective games in IPL 2019 on Saturday and on Monday, they will look to get back to winning ways when both teams clash at the I.S. Bindra Stadium in Mohali.
While KXIP have had a mixed journey so far in the tournament, winning three games and losing two, SRH were looking on a roll after the loss in their first game in Kolkata before Mumbai Indians (MI) pacer Alzarri Jospeh halted them in their own home ground on Saturday.
For KXIP, it is a combination of failure in the pace bowling department as well as the lack of form of the middle-order that needs to be worked on and quickly. While Sam Curran and Mohammed Shami were brilliant in the game against the Delhi Capitals, they looked completely off colour in the last game against Chennai. In the batting department also, apart from KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan, the other batsmen have flattered to deceive.
SRH skipper Bhuvneshwar Kumar will also hope that the faster pace of the wicket in Mohali will help his opening combination of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow. They had a rare failure on Saturday when Joseph sent them packing, but considering their desire to excel, they will come back roaring on Monday.
Expected 11
KXIP: Chris Gayle, Lokesh Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, David Miller, Andrew Tye, Mandeep Singh, Ankit Rajpoot.
SRH: David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Nabi, Siddarth Kaul, Shreevats Goswami.
FPJ’s dream 11: Lokesh Rahul, David Miller, Sarfaraz Khan, David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Vijay Shankar, Yusuf Pathan, Rashid Khan, Siddarth Kaul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Andrew Tye.
With IANS inputs