Big picture: No. 1 on the line in high-octane clash
Everything was going SRH’s way until their run of five victories was halted by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at home.
Two losses won’t worry table-toppers PBKS yet. But with five group fixtures remaining ahead of the playoffs, they would be wary of not extending that run – not least because another defeat will push SRH to the top spot, although PBKS will have a game in hand.
Form guide
Sunrisers Hyderabad: LWWWW (Last five matches, most recent first)
Punjab Kings: LLWWW
Key question
Team news: Reddy fit
Sunrisers Hyderabad (probable): 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Heinrich Klaasen, 5 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Salil Arora, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Eshan Malinga, 11 Shivang Kumar, 12 Sakib Hussain
Nehal Wadhera has been short of runs, so PBKS could replace him with Shashank Singh. Shashank had dismissed both Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma with his dibbly-dobbly medium pace in New Chandigarh, and restricted SRH to 219. But he hasn’t been among the runs himself, and has dropped plenty of catches. He’s also recovering from a niggle, but Brad Haddin said he should be available.
Punjab Kings (probable): 1 Prabhsimran Singh (wk), 2 Priyansh Arya, 3 Cooper Connolly, 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Suryansh Shedge, 6 Shashank Singh/Nehal Wadhera, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Xavier Bartlett, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal, 12 Vijaykumar Vyshak
In the spotlight: Malinga, Arshdeep and Jansen
Eshan Malinga is the only frontline bowler to have played all ten matches for SRH. He started the season with three wickets at an average of 41.67. Since then, though, Malinga has taken 12 wickets at 16.75. He’s SRH’s highest wicket-taker, and has got the ball to tail in late. Malinga was one of the key drivers of SRH’s resurgence. He was expensive and wicketless against KKR, and SRH lost. But Malinga will look to hit back in Hyderabad, where he averages 16.40 in comparison to 21.73 elsewhere.
Pitch and conditions
On pitch no. 2, the average score in night matches across IPL 2024 and 2025 is 200, with a 3-2 record batting first. In the only game this season, SRH posted 242 against Delhi Capitals and won by 47 runs. PBKS, meanwhile, have won five of their six matches while chasing this season. So both teams could get their way at the toss. It rained on the eve of the match, and it’s expected to be cloudy in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Stats and trivia
- Only one half of Travishek enjoys facing Arshdeep. While Abhishek Sharma averages 85 and has a strike rate of 197.67 against the left-arm quick, Travis Head has fallen thrice in 42 balls against Arshdeep, and averages just 19.67.
- Twenty-three batters have scored at least 250 runs at a strike rate of 150 this season. Four batters each from SRH and PBKS feature in that list.
- Pat Cummins is yet to dismiss both PBKS openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh. Arya has hit Cummins for 11 runs in four balls, while Prabhsimran has 25 off 17 deliveries against the SRH captain.
Himanshu Agrawal is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
