Sunrisers Hyderabad’s last match against Gujarat Titans ended in failure, resulting in both teams getting one point each. As a result, SRH officially advanced to the playoffs. If SRH wins here and Rajasthan Royals lose their last match, SRH will finish in 2nd place.
Much will depend on Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma. This duo has proven to be one of the most destructive opening pairs in the league and will again try to give the team a strong start.
The middle order has not been reliable, and their inability to score runs has already cost the team several games. However, players like Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Reddy can hit big at will and can be very destructive on their day.
Sunrisers have a strong pace attack, including T Natarajan, Pat Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Jaydev Unadkat. What the team lacks is a solid spin department.
Already out of the playoff race, the Punjab Kings made a bold attempt in their last match to deal a crushing defeat to the Rajasthan Royals. They will look to replicate that performance in this match and finish the campaign on a high note.
However, this will not be easy, as the Punjab Kings will be playing without two of their key players, Sam Curran and Jonny Bairstow, who have both returned to England. This means that Chris Woakes may get a chance to feature in the starting lineup.
Most of the heavy lifting will be done by Prabhsimran Singh, Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, and Ashutosh Sharma. The latter two have been in good form this season and add depth to the middle order.
Harshal Patel is in brilliant form and is the top wicket-taker of the season with 22 wickets.
He is likely to share the new ball with Arshdeep Singh and Nathan Ellis. Rahul Chahar has played well in the last few matches and will lead the spin department.
Place your bet on Sunrisers Hyderabad to win the match, 1.59.
