Preview: Panjab vs Hyderabad

Panjab will take on the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium, Hyderabad will make an effort to regain their top position of the teams in the IPL rank chart. However the match will be a different kind of conditions for the Kings XI as the pitch at Rajiv Gandhi stadium might just be the slowest and spongiest wicket they have played on in the series. Sunrisers, on the other hand look to win and strengthen their position in the middle of the table and keep themselves in the run of semis.
Hyderabad lost their last game at home, and will be looking to settle that in this game. Although they got slow pitch Amit Mishra and Karn Sharma were unable to do well and that really hurt them against Mumbai.
On the other hand, Punjab has Glenn Maxwell and he really likes to go against the spin when hitting the ball on the leg side. However, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowling the way he is at the moment, Maxwell will do well to see him off rather than attack him right from the get go.
Virender Sehwag got his form against KKR with a quick 74-run knock. His form will be very advantageous for Punjab, as they now have three key batsmen in top form that can regulate things at the top, during the middle overs, and especially at the death. David Miller will be looking to convert his starts and go on to get a few big runs.
For the Sunrisers, Shikhar Dhawan’s form has been their big concern. While he has looked good in starts, he is yet to cross 40 this season. Being the skipper, the responsibility is on him to lead from the front. Aaron Finch scored some valuable runs in their last game, but the strike rate was far from what used to expect from him. He would be looking to get in the big hits more regularly. David Warner has been the batsmen in the best form for SRH this year, and has continuously scored runs for them.
On paper, this should be a no-contest with Kings XI Punjab coming out on top, but with the player like Dale Steyn and Aaron Finch threatening to explode at any moment; it would be idiotic to dismiss the Sunrisers Hyderabad completely.

Squads:
Sunrisers Hyderabad : Shikhar Dhawan(c), Aaron Finch, David Warner, Lokesh Rahul, Naman Ojha(w), Irfan Pathan, Moises Henriques, Dale Steyn, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Karn Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Brendan Taylor, Venugopal Rao, Jason Holder, Srikkanth Anirudha, Darren Sammy, Manpreet Juneja, Parvez Rasool, Prasanth Parameswaran, Amit Paunikar, Ricky Bhui, Ashish Reddy, Chama Milind.

Kings XI Punjab : George Bailey (c), David Miller, Manan Vohra, Mitchell Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, Virender Sehwag, Rishi Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shaun Marsh, Cheteshwar Pujara, Beuran Hendricks, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Thisara Perera, Gurkeerat Mann Singh, Murali Kartik, Sandeep Sharma, Mandeep Singh, Akshar Patel, Parvinder Awana, Shardul Thakur, Anureet Singh, Shivam Sharma, Karanveer Singh.

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Prateek Vikram Singh / Team Cricketnmore