Indian Premier League 2019 Match 22, Kings XI Punjab vs Sunrisers Hyderabad: Preview, likely XIs, predictions

Indian Premier League 2019 Match 22, Kings XI Punjab vs Sunrisers Hyderabad: Preview, likely XIs, predictions

IPL 2019 12 Sunrisers Hyderabad Kings XI Punjab SRH KXIP

Kings XI Punjab will host Sunrisers Hyderabad for Match 22 of IPL 2019, at Mohali on April 7. With 3 wins each from 5 matches, the teams are separated only by net run rate (Hyderabad +1, Punjab -0.094). Thus, whoever wins here will get a significant boost on the points table.

Their inability to deliver when David Warner and Jonny Bairstow fails has bothered Hyderabad. They were pushed by Delhi Capitals and exposed by Mumbai Indians – and Punjab have definitely taken note of that.

The advent of Mohammad Nabi – IPL 2019‘s most economical bowler with a 4-over cut-off – has boosted their attack. At the same time, his performances have been keeping Kane Williamson (and Shakib Al Hasan) out of the XI – despite there being an evident hole in the middle-order.

Punjab suffered from letting the asking rate rise too much against Chennai. KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan both scored fifties but let the game drift away, leaving the onslaught too late for a middle-order that does not have Andre Russell.

That apart, the Punjab top six is as explosive as any in the league. They may want to draft in Mujeeb Ur Rahman for Andrew Tye depending on the pitch, but that is about it.

Head to head

Hyderabad hold a massive 9-3 advantage here despite the sides winning one each last time. When Punjab were having an excellent run in the early stages of 2018, Chris Gayle lit up Mohali with an unbeaten 63-ball 104 to take Punjab to 193/3. Kane Williamson (54 in 41) and Manish Pandey (57* in 42) could only take them to 178/4 as Andrew Tye took 2/23.

Hyderabad had their revenge at Uppal. Ankit Rajpoot (5/14) and Mujeeb (4-0-17-1) restricted them to 132/6 despite Pandey’s 51-ball 54. Gayle and KL Rahul even added 55 for the opening stand, in 47 balls. Then Punjab collapsed to 119 against Rashid Khan (3/19), Basil Thampi (2/14), Sandeep Sharma (2/17), and Shakib (2/18).

Key players

R Ashwin (Kings XI Punjab): The Mankading controversy overshadowed Ashwin’s bowling in the tournament – though, to be fair, he was hardly at his best. He came to his elements in his hometown Chennai, where he used his variations to great effect for his 3/23. He has also led Punjab well, especially during that heist against Delhi.

Rashid Khan (Sunrisers Hyderabad): Rashid has bowled the most dot balls in IPL 12. His economy rate of 6 makes excellent reading. And he provided the finishing blows against Rajasthan Royals. Given a star of his stature, however, he is probably expected to be more spectacular – whereas he has been merely consistent this time.

Likely XIs

Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul (wk), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Sam Curran, R Ashwin (c), Mohammed Shami, Andrew Tye, Murugan Ashwin.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Vijay Shankar, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (c), Sandeep Sharma, Siddharth Kaul.

Prediction

Tough call, but a marginally better all-round outfit makes Hyderabad slight favourites.