On Monday, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will be locking horns with each other in a crucial match in Hyderabad. With both SRH and KXIP sitting on 10 points, a victory for either of them would give them a sigh of relief on the points table.
It has been a roller-coaster season for SRH. After an impressive start, the Hyderabad franchise lost its way with three losses. Ahead of the last game, Jonny Bairstow traveled back to fulfill his international duties, which sets SRH further back given that he had helped Hyderabad with some crucial games along with David Warner.
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On the other hand, KXIP also sailing in the same boat of trouble as their dependency on their opening pair Chris Gayle and KL Rahul seems to be increasing each passing game. R Ashwin and Mohammed Shami have been the mainstays on the bowling side. The KXIP camp also would be worried about their bowling in the slog overs.
Kings XI Punjab (KXIP)
Ankit Rajpoot has been expensive over a couple of matches and that could increase the chances of the come back of Arshdeep Singh or Sam Curran. Having said that Curran has also struggled for consistency while Arshdeep is only 19 and inexperienced. KXIP also has injury worries with both Moises Henriques and Mujeeb Ur Rahman sustaining injuries.
Probable XI: Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Nicholas Pooran(w), Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Hardus Viljoen, Ankit Rajpoot/Arshdeep Singh, Murugan Ashwin Mohammed Shami
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
SRH has the option of picking the ‘keeper-batsman Shreevats Goswami and use him as a floater at the top of the order. The hosts could also be tempted to select Mohammad Nabi as he has taken some crucial wicket earlier this season. Sandeep Sharma could also replace Siddarth Kaul after the latter had a forgettable outing versus RR.
Probable XI: David Warner, Shreevats Goswami/ Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul/Sandeep Sharma, K Khaleel Ahmed
