May 8 (Punjab Khabarnama) : It will be a battle of two teams tantalizingly close to a playoffs spot as the former champions Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on the Lucknow Super Giants at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Wednesday. Both teams are on equal terms as far as their IPL 2024 journey is considered. With 12 points in the bank, SRH are currently at no.4 in the table while LSG follow them at no.5.
SRH were outclassed by the Mumbai Indians in their last encounter. The Orange Army had a struggle to post 173 runs on the board which the five-time former champions managed to chase in 17 overs courtesy of a magical century from Suryakumar Yadav. SRH’s formidable opening order failed to deliver after their star opener Abhishek Yadav departed early while Travis Head stayed firm. However, as the latter departed at 48, the SRH batting line-up tumbled miserably.
On the other hand, the Lucknow Super Giants were beaten by the Kolkata Knight Riders in a dominating fashion. The team’s bowling unit was blown away by KKR’s southpaw Sunil Narine (81 off 39 balls) as he propelled the team to 235 runs. In reply, LSG could only manage to score 137 runs and were bowled out in the 17th over.
SRH likely XI (if batting first)
Travis Head, Abhishek Singh, Mayank Aggarwal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klassen (wk), Marco Jansen, Shahbaz Ahmed, Abdul Samad, Pat Cummins (c), Sanvir Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
SRH likely XI (if bowling first)
Travis Head, Mayank Aggarwal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klassen (wk), Marco Jansen, Shahbaz Ahmed, Abdul Samad, Pat Cummins (c), Sanvir Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan
Impact players: Abhishek Singh, Umran Malik, T Natarajan
LSG likely XI (if batting first)
KL Rahul (c), Arshin Kulkarni, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Ashton Turner, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-Ul-Haq, Mohsin Khan.
LSG likely XI (if bowling first)
KL Rahul (c), Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Ashton Turner, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-Ul-Haq, Mohsin Khan, Yash Thakur.
Impact players: Arshin Kulkarni, Devdutt Paddikal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Yudhvir Singh
Pitch Report
The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium is a bowling-friendly track that provides great assistance to the spinners due to its holding nature. The ground has generally favoured teams batting second, however, in IPL 2024, three out of four games have been won by teams batting first. Hosts SRH stole a narrow one-run victory to RR in their previous outing at this venue.
Head-to-head
Both teams have met each other on three occasions where LSG have won all their encounters against SRH as the latter will be looking to secure their first-ever win of IPL over Lucknow.
Fantasy XI
Travis Head, KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Marcus Stoinis, Heinrich Klassen (wk), Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Pat Cummins (c), Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan