With their respective bowling attacks struggling to find form, Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to their power-hitters to do the job when the two teams go head to head in the IPL here on Thursday.
KXIP is languishing at the bottom after losing four of its five games, while SRH is sixth following two wins and three losses so far.
KXIP’s strength has been its formidable opening duo. Skipper K.L. Rahul has scored two fifties and a century, while Mayank Agarwal also has a half-century and a three-figure knock to his credit. But despite the solid batting performances, KXIP has been unable to win because of the disappointing bowling attack.
Apart from Mohammed Shami, all the others have failed to take wickets.
The team was unable to defend 223 against Rajasthan Royals. During the 10-wicket loss in the previous outing, the KXIP bowlers were at their wits end as Chennai Super Kings overhauled a 178-run target with 14 balls and 10 wickets to spare.
Come Thursday, Sunrisers, blessed with a strong top order comprising Jonny Bairstow, David Warner, Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson, will look to exploit the KXIP’s bowling unit.
Having lost the opening two games due to the middle order, Sunrisers brought in Williamson to the playing XI. Skipper Warner backed youngsters Abhishek Sharma and Abdul Samad to fill in for the fifth bowler’s slot and it paid off.
However, the team was dealt a massive blow when senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was ruled out of the tournament with a thigh muscle injury.
In his absence, SRH struggled with the bowling. Apart from T. Natarajan, pacers Sandeep Sharma and Siddarth Kaul leaked runs.
Samad was also expensive, which led Warner to turn to Williamson to bowl two overs of off-spin against Mumbai Indians.
Going ahead, there will be added pressure on Natarajan and star spinner Rashid Khan.
The team has the option of playing experienced Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi or West Indies’ Fabian Allen but that would mean Willamson sitting out.
