After starting the season on a strong note both Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab have slipped their momentum in the middle stage of the tournament and now both teams will lock horns to get back into winning ways at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Monday.
Hyderabad, who have one of the strongest bowling line-ups in IPL have not performed up to the mark this season. SRH key bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar is having a dull season, while spin master Rashid Khan best is also yet to come as right now he very low on the wicket tally.
Punjab, on the other hand, also faced defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their previous encounter in Bengaluru. Chasing a massive 203-run target last Wednesday, the R Ashwin-led side managed to score 185/7 in their full quota of 20 overs, thus losing the match by 17 runs.
The problem for Punjab is that they are leaking too many runs in the end stage of the innings and their middle order has proved to be inconsistent, with likes of Chris Gayle and KL Rahul at the top, they are not putting a massive score on the board.
We might see the return of Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi in the playing XI of Hyderabad in the place of Shakib Al Hasan.
What to expect and Match Prediction:
The race of the play-offs is fired up and both Sunrisers and Kings XI have decent chance to make it through, so when they collide on Monday no team will be favourites as both have powerhouse batsman at the top with David Warner (SRH) and Chris Gayle (KXIP). The X-factor in this match will be Rashid Khan a lot will depend on his quota of four overs.
Predicted Playing of SRH vs KXIP:
Probable Playing XI of Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner, Shreevats Goswami (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, K Khaleel Ahmed
Probable Playing XI of Kings XI Punjab: Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Nicholas Pooran(w), Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Hardus Viljoen, Sam Curran, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami
