Mullanpur, April 8: An inconsistent Punjab Kings will hope to come out with an attacking display to match the ultra-aggressive approach of Sunrisers Hyderabad as the two teams clash in a mid-table battle in the IPL here on Tuesday.
Both SRH and PBKS have two wins and two losses from their four matches to be tied with two other teams in the middle with four points and they will be desperate to break out of the mid-table logjam first.
While SRH have been unpredictable sometimes they have displayed their might with the bat with their top-order firing on all cylinders on most occasions. But the same cannot be said about the Kings.
SRH recorded the highest team total in the history of the IPL en route their win over Mumbai Indians, while they also notched up a convincing six-wicket win over reigning champions Chennai Super Kings on Friday.
The likes of Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram have consistently taken the attack to the opposition bowlers, providing the team with blistering starts.
PBKS too have plenty of big-hitting potential with their batting line-up boosting off Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone. But apart from the skipper, none has been able to consistently put up a show so far.
Punjab will hope that their Indian players – Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh Sharma – step up just like Shashank Singh, who pulled off a jailbreak in their last match against Gujarat Titans with his highest ever T20 score – 61 runs from 29 balls.
Both the teams are coming into the match after a win and it could well be a battle of the powerplay when they face off at the the newly-built Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Cricket Stadium, which will host only its second IPL game on Tuesday.
Bowling department remains a concern for both teams. While Punjab has struggled at the death overs, Sunrisers faltered with the new ball.
South African pacer Kagiso Rabada emerged as their best bowler with six wickets, but inconsistencies of the likes of death-over specialist Arshdeep Singh and Harshal Patel is a concern. Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar has also been expensive though Harpreet Brar has done well so far.
For Hyderabad, the likes of Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have conceded too many runs.
Despite all his experience, Bhuvneshwar has struggled with the new ball though he managed a wicket in the last game. T Natarajan, who returned after missing two games in between, has also claimed four wickets so far.
Skipper Pat Cummins, who has taken five wickets in four games, has looked good but he will need consistent support from his other bowlers.
The Sunrisers bowlers dished out a lot of variations like cutters and slow balls to trouble the batters and they would hope to keep the momentum against the Kings.
It is a 3-2 head-to-head count between SRH and PBKS in the last five meetings, indicating that a tight battle is likely to be on the cards on Tuesday. (PTI)
