In Match 69 of the 2024 Indian Premier League season, the Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad will face off against the Punjab Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday at 3:30 PM IST.
The Sam Curran-led side is ranked 9th in the points table with 10 points from 13 games. It’s all over for the Kings, as even if they win the remaining game, they can only get a maximum of 12 points.
SRH is ranked 3rd in the points table with 15 points in 13 games. They already qualified for the playoffs, but they would be looking to win their last league game to increase their chance of finishing in the top two of the league standings.
What has happened so far?
For the Kings, it has been the same tale as most years, as they won just two out of their first eight games. However, PBKS did turn things around by winning two games on the trot, but they faced defeat in the next two games before winning the last game.
In their last game against the Rajasthan Royals, PBKS’ bowlers bowled superbly to restrict RR to an achievable target of 145 runs. In reply, with a half-century from the skipper Sam Curran, Punjab won the game by 5 wickets.
On the other hand, SRH started this season brilliantly, winning five out of their first seven games. However, after that, they have been able to win just three out of their last seven games with one game being a washout.
In their last game against the Gujarat Titans that was abandoned due to rain without a single ball being bowled. After KKR and RR, SRH has been proclaimed as the third team to advance to the IPL 2024 playoffs following Thursday’s washout in Hyderabad.
Head to Head Record
Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad have competed in 22 IPL matches, with SRH winning 15 of these 22 games, while PBKS has managed to win only 7 of the fixtures.
Sunrisers Hyderabad has a commanding winning record against Punjab Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, having won in 7 of the last 8 meetings.
The Sunrisers registered a thrilling victory by 2 runs over the Kings in the match played at PBKS home ground earlier this season.
Key Players
Harshal Patel has had a great season so far
Harshal Patel (Punjab Kings): Harshal Patel, the IPL 2024 purple cap holder, has been the Kings’ most important bowler. At an average of 19.45, he has claimed 22 wickets in 13 innings.
Harshal has bowled brilliantly in all phases of the game, especially in the death overs, amassing 16 wickets at an average of 13.18 in the death overs across the span of 12 innings. He has an economy rate of 10.55. In this phase, he has bowled 37 dot balls.
Travis Head (Sunrisers Hyderabad): Travis Head, the opening batter for SRH, has amassed 533 runs in 11 innings this IPL 2024 season at an amazing strike rate of 201.89, placing him third in the hunt for the coveted Orange Cap award.
Additionally, this year, Head has amassed three of the Sunrisers’ four fastest half-centuries ever. Against RCB, he smashed a 41-ball century to record the team’s fastest-ever century and aided SRH
Team News from Both Camps
The hosts have been injury-free for most of the campaign as the Sunrisers’ medical team has done a fine job of keeping the players healthy which would be crucial at the business end of the season.
On the other hand, Punjab Kings will be missing many of their overseas players as the English contingent of stand-in skipper Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, and Jonny Bairstow has flown away to participate in the 4-match T20I series against Pakistan. Kagiso Rabada has also flown back home due to a lower limb soft tissue infection and the Proteas speedster is expected to be fit for the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup.
Kings’ skipper Shikhar Dhawan will continue to miss the proceedings due to an injury and Jitesh Sharma will get to don the captaincy armband in their last league match of the season.
Predicted XIs
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh, Atharva Taide, Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, Jitesh Sharma © (wk), Sikandar Raza, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Nathan Ellis, Arshdeep Singh
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins ©, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, T Natarajan
Prediction
The Punjab Kings would be playing their last game of the season, so they would be looking to finish their campaign on a positive note. On the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad would be looking to get a win and give themselves a chance to finish in the top two.
Though SRH had a great head-to-head home record against PBKS, a great game of cricket is anticipated in Hyderabad on Sunday.