A top-heavy Sunrisers Hyderabad is seeking to sort its middle-order woes against Kings XI Punjab as the two teams eye a return to winning ways in the Indian Premier League here Monday.
Mohali:
But, having suffered defeats in their previous games, both Sunrisers and Kings XI would be desperate to get back to winning ways.
While Sunrisers lost by 40 runs against Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad on Saturday while chasing a below-par 136, Kings XI was beaten by 22 runs by Chennai Super Kings.
Sunrisers has been threatening in its first three games when David Warner and Jonny Bairstow stitched century-plus stands but once the duo got out cheaply, the Hyderabad team’s middle-order looked in complete disarray. Sunrisers’ middle-order has hardly been tested and when the opportunity came against Mumbai Indians, the likes of Vijay Shankar, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda and Yusuf Pathan fell flat. Chasing a modest 137 against Mumbai for a win, debutant Alzarri Joseph wreaked havoc to bundle out Sunrisers for 96.
On the bowling front, the pace trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma and Siddharth Kaul have been descent so far while the Afghan spin duo of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi have been more than impressive in the middle overs.
Kings XI, on the other hand, lost the plot despite half-centuries from K L Rahul (55) and Sarfaraz Khan (67) while chasing 161 as it was restricted to 138 for five by CSK.
Kings XI batsmen was choked for runs by the CSK spinners and with Rashid and Nabi in Sunrisers’ rank, it is going to be another difficult outing for the home team batsmen.
Both Sunrisers and Kings XI have garnered six points after three wins from five games but the Hyderabad outfit is placed second in the eight-team standings on account of a better run rate. Kings XI, meanwhile, is lying fifth in the points table.
But, having suffered defeats in their previous games, both Sunrisers and Kings XI would be desperate to get back to winning ways.
While Sunrisers lost by 40 runs against Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad on Saturday while chasing a below-par 136, Kings XI was beaten by 22 runs by Chennai Super Kings.
Sunrisers has been threatening in its first three games when David Warner and Jonny Bairstow stitched century-plus stands but once the duo got out cheaply, the Hyderabad team’s middle-order looked in complete disarray. Sunrisers’ middle-order has hardly been tested and when the opportunity came against Mumbai Indians, the likes of Vijay Shankar, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda and Yusuf Pathan fell flat. Chasing a modest 137 against Mumbai for a win, debutant Alzarri Joseph wreaked havoc to bundle out Sunrisers for 96.
On the bowling front, the pace trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma and Siddharth Kaul have been descent so far while the Afghan spin duo of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi have been more than impressive in the middle overs.
Kings XI, on the other hand, lost the plot despite half-centuries from K L Rahul (55) and Sarfaraz Khan (67) while chasing 161 as it was restricted to 138 for five by CSK.
Kings XI batsmen was choked for runs by the CSK spinners and with Rashid and Nabi in Sunrisers’ rank, it is going to be another difficult outing for the home team batsmen.