The Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Chandigarh will play host on Tuesday as Punjab Kings will battle it out against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their 23rd match of the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League from 7:30 pm onwards.
Both sides will be brimming with confidence as they scored well-deserved victories in their last fixture. Shikhar Dhawan’s men defeated Gujarat Titans by three wickets while Pat Cummins’ side thrashed Chennai Super Kings by six wickets.
What has happened so far?
Sunrisers Hyderabad have one of the best batting line-ups in the tournament but the team has struggled with consistency. They are currently occupying the fifth place in the points table with two losses and as many wins from four league matches. It was a bad start for the team as they lost their opening game against the Kolkata Knight Riders by four runs. However, they were quick to make a comeback and scored a win against Mumbai Indians by recording the highest total ever in IPL history.
The franchise’s second defeat came against Gujarat Titans as the batters ended up scoring only 162 runs in the allotted 20 overs. Hyderabad made amends in their most recent match as they got better off Chennai Super Kings by chasing 166 runs within 18.1 overs.
Speaking of Punjab Kings, they also have two losses and wins each to their name and are just below Hyderabad in the IPL 2024 standings. Unlike SRH, the Kings started the tournament on a high with a victory against Delhi Capitals.
However, they struggled in their coming games and lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Lucknow Super Giants by four wickets and 21 runs, respectively. The team was successful in scripting a comeback in the last game with a win over Gujarat Titans by three wickets.
Head to Head Record
Sunrisers Hyderabad are ahead of the Punjab Kings in the head-to-head records in the T20 extravaganza. The two teams have featured in a total of 21 games so far with SRH winning 14 matches and the Punjab-based franchise scoring a victory in the remaining 7 games.
Key Players
Heinrich Klaasen (Sunrisers Hyderabad): Heinrich Klassen has surpassed all expectations with his exceptional batting performance in the 2024 edition of the Indian T20 League.
The South African star is currently the top run-scorer for Hyderabad while he occupies the fourth place in the overall list. In four games, Klaasen has smacked 177 runs at an impressive avenge of 88.50 and an exceptional strike rate of 203.45.
The wicketkeeper-batter did not get much of a chance to showcase his batting mettle in the game against Chennai Super Kings as he played only 11 balls while his team was chasing a target of 166 runs. However, it would be important for Klaasen to be in the form on Tuesday, as a high-scoring encounter can be on the cards against Punjab Kings.
Shashank Singh (Punjab Kings): Shashank Singh left the cricket fraternity pleasantly surprised by his exceptional batting performance in Punjab Kings’ last match against Gujarat Titans.
The team was in trouble while chasing 200 runs with a score of 70-4. However, they did not have much to worry about as Singh delivered the best performance of his cricket career by hammering 61 runs off just 29 balls.
Singh was awarded Player of the Match in the game against Gujarat Titans
His batting exploits at a strike rate of over 210 helped the Kings score an easy win by three wickets while he also took the Player of the Match award home. The batter is again expected to flaunt his talent on the 22-yard pitch against his former employers.
Team News from Both Camps
Sunrisers Hyderabad were forced to play without the top-order batter Mayank Agarwal in their last game as he was unavailable because of poor health. He paved the way for Nitish Reddy in the playing XI who scored not out 14 runs off 8 balls. There has been no update on Mayank’s health and the chances of him missing out on SRH’s upcoming game are high.
Meanwhile, T Natarajan has made his comeback to the squad after missing a few games because of a niggle. The 33-year-old was decent in the game against CSK as he picked one wicket while conceding 39 runs.
Punjab Kings can also miss the services of power-hitter Liam Livingstone as he seems to have suffered an injury to his hamstring. Sikandar Raza was included in the team as a replacement in the last game but failed to impress the fans.
Predicted XIs
Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan ©, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins ©, Jaydev Unadkat, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande
Prediction
The chances of Sunrisers Hyderabad scoring a win against Punjab Kings are high on Tuesday, as the team has the most explosive batting line-up in IPL 2024. Moreover, their bowling line-up also showed signs of brilliance in the game against CSK.
On the other hand, Punjab Kings are unbeaten in their new stadium and the Preity Zinta co-owned franchise would like to maintain that record against the Sunrisers.