Sunrisers Hyderabad host Lucknow Super Giants in high-stakes contest

Sunrisers Hyderabad (fourth) vs Lucknow Super Giants (sixth)
Hyderabad, 7.30pm IST (2pm GMT)

The stakes are high when SRH host LSG on Wednesday: both teams are on 12 points and are trying to put some distance between them and the rest of the mid-table scrum to give their playoff chances a boost.

Both sides are also coming into the contest having suffered defeats in their most recent fixtures. LSG's NRR took a big hit when they were hammered by Kolkata Knight Riders. SRH also suffered a sizeable defeat against Mumbai Indians.

SRH, however, will take confidence from the fact that they play their remaining three league matches at home, where their batters have powered them to three wins in four games. In eight innings in Hyderabad this season, teams have scored 200 or more five times, and hit 92 sixes. That's where SRH will hope to have the edge over LSG.

SRH have hit the most sixes in the powerplay this season, 41 to LSG's 20, while going at a run rate of 11.04 as compared to LSG's 8.48. In the death overs, they have hit 36 sixes, again the most, while LSG's 16 sixes are the fewest in that phase. LSG's batters will need to level-up as they play their last three league games on the road at potentially high-scoring venues: Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai.

But scratch the surface of SRH's run-scoring and it hasn't been great in recent games. While Travis Head has shown consistency, Abhishek Sharma's form has slipped with scores of 15, 12, and 11 in their last three matches. SRH have also struggled with their No. 3: they have used six players in that position, the second most behind Delhi Capitals, without much success. It's an area the LSG bowlers could target.

There is another sub-plot to watch out for with SRH captain Pat Cummins going up against LSG coach Justin Langer, who had an acrimonious exit from the Australian team in early 2022. After a reported breakdown in the relationship between Langer and the Australian senior players, he stepped down as head coach after rejecting a short-term extension to his tenure. He later hit out at the "bull**** politics" within Cricket Australia, something which did not go down well with Cummins.

There are currently four teams on 12 points: Chennai Super Kings, SRH, Delhi Capitals and LSG. The winner of Wednesday's contest will move to third place. The loser will remain outside the top four, and a further deterioration of their net run rate will significantly hurt their playoff hopes.

Sunrisers Hyderabad LWLLW (last five completed games, most recent first)
Lucknow Super Giants LWLWW

Sunrisers Hyderabad
Umran Malik had marked his run-up and was all set to be SRH's Impact Player in their previous game but they needed to bring in the batter Sanvir Singh during a first-innings collapse. It is likely that one of T Natarajan or Umran might play the Impact Player role again, swapping with Mayank Agarwal or Abhishek Sharma. Marco Jansen had a forgettable match in Mumbai and SRH could give Glenn Phillips his first game late in the season.

Probable XII 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Travis Head, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Marco Jansen/Glenn Phillips, 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Shahbaz Ahmed, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 T Natarajan, 12 Umran Malik/Jaydev Unadkat

Mohsin Khan hit his head on the turf while fielding during LSG's previous game and was replaced by a concussion substitute. He has, however, travelled with the squad to Hyderabad. Arshin Kulkarni has been LSG's impact player in their last two games - with Quinton de Kock out with a niggle - but he hasn't had an innings of note.

Probable XII 1 KL Rahul, 2 Arshin Kulkarni, 3 Marcus Stoinis, 4 Deepak Hooda, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Ashton Turner, 7 Ayush Badoni, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Naveen-Ul-Haq, 11 Mohsin Khan, 12 Yash Thakur

With 15 wickets in nine games, striking every 14 balls this season, T Natarajan is a contender for the Purple Cap. It's his death bowling that has stood out this season, with nine wickets in the phase, second behind Jasprit Bumrah. While his economy of 10.58 has been on the higher side, Natarajan has held the SRH bowling together in the death, landing his yorkers with precision.

Nicholas Pooran could be LSG's answer to the Natarajan threat. The left-hander has faced 24 balls from Natarajan in IPL, scored 42 runs at a strike rate of 175.0 and has never been dismissed. Pooran, however, hasn't been in the best form lately, with scores of 11, 14* and 10 in his last three games, but he has a strike rate of 282.60 in IPL games in Hyderabad.

LSG's practice session on the eve of the game was cancelled due to rain in Hyderabad and there is more predicted for match day. Teams batting first have won three out of four games so far, but the rain forecast might make chasing preferable. The temperature is likely to range between 27C and 33C.

"In general, the spinners have had a tough time this tournament. Wickets have been so good and the scores have been high. But given our spinners, Bishnoi has bowled really well in the last two games. Krunal has been very good throughout."
LSG assistant coach Sridharan Sriram isn't worried about the lack of wickets from their spinners.