CHENNAI, April 20: Bruised and battered after suffering a hat-trick of defeats, a desperate Sunrisers Hyderabad would seek inspiration from skipper David Warner to arrest any further slide when they take on Punjab Kings in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
SRH couldn’t have asked for a worse start to the season as they slumped to three straight defeats, and in all occasions while chasing.
Punjab are a tad better than SRH, having registered one win out of three games to be placed at seventh in the standings, a rung above their Wednesday’s opponents.
Chasing has been Sunrisers’ achilles’ heel so far in the league. They failed to get past a low score against Mumbai Indians in their last match.
SRH have been hit hard by the lack of depth in their playing XI and below-par Indian bench strength.
In these circumstances, the onus rests on Warner to do some magic and inspire his side to bounce back in the tournament.
He also needs some serious introspection before deciding his playing XI on Wednesday.
Warner and Rashid Khan are certainties in the foreign players’ slots, but the absence of Kane Williamson has been badly felt as he can provide solidity to the middle-order, especially after they faltered in three consecutive chases.
But what would be troubling Warner most is the lack of depth in the team’s local batting resources.
SRH have also been hit hard by the poor show of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan.
Bhuvneshwar continues to be on the expensive side. Rashid has been economical but didn’t look menacing so far.
Punjab too are on a losing streak after the win in their tournament opener over Rajasthan Royals. They lost to Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals.
After a batting collapse against CSK, Punjab made a significant improvement and rode on skipper KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal fifties to post a challenging 195 for four against DC.
But a below-par effort from their bowlers spoiled the hardwork of the openers.
Mohammed Shami has not been in his best form and leaked runs but what would be a concern for Rahul is the performance of Australian pace duo of Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith.
Match starts at 3:30 PM. (PTI)
