Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) take on Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the match number 22 of the tournament. The match will take place at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The playing conditions are even for the batsman as well as bowlers in here .
Match Details
Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kings XI Punjab, Match 22, IPL 2020, 18:00 Local time, 19:30 IST.
Television Broadcast India: Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports Select, and Star Sports Select HD
Live Streaming: Disney+Hotstar
Head to Head
The Head to Head between these two teams is heavily in favour of SRH.
In total, they have played fourteen matches out of which SRH have won 10 and KXIP have won only 4 games.
If we look at their last four meetings, they have won 2 matches each.
Squads
Top Players of SRH and KXIP
SRH:
D Warner: He was the best player for SRH against MI in the previous match scoring 60 runs off 44 balls. He hasn't been at his best in this year's IPL. If we compare his last 5 years record of IPL with this year; his average of 35 and a strike rate of 123.23 is the worst. The good thing though is that against KXIP, he is the highest run-scorer; he has scored 819 runs at an average of 54.60 and Strike rate of 142.18.
S Sharma: He has to take the responsibility of being the lead bowler as Bhuvneshwar Kumar wouldn't be able to play anymore because of his hamstring injury. He picked up two wickets against MI but also leaked 41 runs. He has a tough task in hand of bowling to the openers of the tournament.
R Khan: His bowling figures in last three matches are exceptional, 22/1 (4 ov) vs MI, 12/0(4 ov) vs CSK, 14/3 (4 ov) vs DC. He is the bowler with the best economy in IPL history and arguably the best spinner in the world when it comes to T20 cricket. Against KXIP, he has picked up 11 wickets at an economy of 7.20 and bowling average of 15.72. He could be used against the KXIP's in-form openers.
M Pandey: He has had a strange IPL season so far. He has consistently got starts but apart from his 51 against KKR, he hasn't converted his starts into big scores. Against KXIP, his average of 34.73 and his strike rate of 126.76 is better than his overall IPL average and strike rate. He could use this confidence in this match to come up with a big score.
J Bairstow: He made a crucial 50 against DC which helped his team win that game. He played a solid knock of 61 against RCB but SRH lost that match. He has looked in solid whenever on the crease and its just that he hasn't converted those starts into big knocks in all the innings. The battle of Shami/Cottrell versus Bairstow/Warner should be interesting to watch.
KXIP:
C Gayle: I believe it is time for his introduction in the tournament now. Although M Agarwal and KL Rahul have been excellent at the top other batsmen haven't stood up as expected. They need to strengthen their middle order, Maxwell has struggled with the bat and could be replaced in the match. Gayle also has a decent record against SRH scoring at an average of 30.58 and a strike rate of 148.58. They can open with C Gayle & M Agarwal while KL Rahul can bat at number 3 position.
KL Rahul: He is the leading run-scorer of the tournament, he has not only scored good runs but has also scored them at a very good strike rate. Overall, he has scored 302 runs at an average of 75.50 and a strike rate of 141.78. Despite his heroics at the top, his team has struggled to win matches who knows maybe the inclusion of C Gayle can change fortunes for KXIP.
M Agarwal: He has been exceptional in this tournament, this is by far his best IPL performance of his career. His average of 54.40 and a phenomenal strike rate of 162.87 speaks about his form. He is third in the list of top run-scorers for this year.
M Shami: Apart from the match against CSK he has picked up a wicket in every other match. He has been very good at the top and has looked dangerous with the ball throughout this tournament.
S Cottrell: He like Shami has picked up a wicket in every match other than the one against CSK. Despite his poor outing against CSK and RR his bowling figures of 17/2, 24/2 & 20/1 still stand out.
Likely Playing 11
Other Players to watch
R Bishnoi (KXIP): He isn't talked about much maybe because he hasn't been amongst the wickets in the last three matches, but he has bowled pretty well and would be the player to watch out for. R Bishnoi vs K Williamson would be fun to watch.
K Williamson/ M Nabi (SRH): Either one of the two players should play the game and whichever player plays would make this list of players to watch from SRH.
Overall, it is immensely difficult to choose a side between these two teams. If I have to gamble and pick a side; I would choose KXIP if Gayle plays else SRH.