Ipl preview: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Delhi Capitals

Captain Rishabh Pant’s forgetful show with the bat and behind the stumps was one of the reasons for LSG’s defeat in the first game. And he needs badly to lead from the front.

Hyderabad: For Lucknow Super Giants, which snatched a defeat from the jaws of victory against Delhi Capitals in the previous match in Visakhapatnam, it will be a daunting task when it takes on the formidable Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL league match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Thursday.

Captain Rishabh Pant’s forgetfulness with the bat and behind the stumps was one of the reasons for LSG’s defeat in the first game. And he badly needs to lead from the front.

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The batting line-up, no doubt, looks imposing, what with the likes of opener Aiden Markram, hard-hitting Mitchell Marsh, West Indian Nicholas Pooran, who on his day can make the best of the bowlers look very ordinary, Pant himself at No 4 and the explosive David Miller and Ayush Badoni to follow. But it can be brittle on occasion, too.

What LSG badly needs is for the big batters to come good to support a bowling attack which doesn’t inspire any awe.

The good news can be the return of pacer Avesh Khan, who is expected to strike early in the company of the experienced Shardul Thakur.

It will be interesting to see whether LSG prefers to bank on spin. Well, the problem for any team which faces SRH is it rarely matters -spin or pace. For the likes of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma at the top, followed by Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen can explode against any attack.

With the pitch expected to be yet another batter-friendly one, what is certain is that SRH will go all out for the second win in two games to get the early momentum to its campaign.

Captain Pat Cummins might have been hit all over the ground the other night, but he is far too experienced to let one poor show affect him. With pacers Mohammed Shami, Simarjeet Singh bowling in tandem at the top and Harshal Patel at the back-end, the spin duo of Adam Zampa and Abhishek Sharma can have the freedom to experiment and purchase wickets.

There is no doubt, there can be yet another batting feast for the fans- from which team will be the big question?