Sunrisers Hyderabad eye momentum against Lucknow Super Giants

Sunrisers Hyderabad, buoyed by their strong win over Kolkata Knight Riders, face Lucknow Super Giants at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium. With Pat Cummins still unavailable, SRH’s bowlers and batters will be tested against LSG’s powerful line-up

Hyderabad: Fresh from its convincing performance against Kolkata Knight Riders in the away game, former champions Sunrisers Hyderabad will be keen to continue the momentum when they take on Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Sunday afternoon (3.30 pm start).

For a team whose bowling attack, without fast bowling great Pat Cummins who is unlikely to be in action for another three weeks, was under fire after the thrashing by Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first game, Sunrisers bowlers did remarkably well thanks to a clear change in strategy — emphasis on change of pace, relying more on slower ones and back of length deliveries to get the better of the KKR batting line-up on what was rated to be a two-paced pitch.

---

But come Sunday, it should be a different proposition even for Sunrisers given the history of the venue being more batter-friendly over the years. Surely, it will be a test for the likes of David Payne, Jaydev Unadkat, all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was the man of the match in the KKR game, and spinners Harsh Dubey and Shivang Kumar.

It is the imposing batting line-up with Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma at the top, stand-in captain Ishan Kishan at No 3 followed by Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma and Nitish Kumar Reddy which is expected to fire once again to provide the much-needed cushion to the bowlers — be it setting a target or chasing one.

Nitish Kumar, who was out of the Indian team, should have been pleased with his all-round performance as it would have given him back the confidence.

On the other hand, LSG depends on the big-hitting prowess of Mitchell Marsh, captain Rishabh Pant, Aiden Markram at the top and the classy Ayush Badoni, the sensational Nicholas Pooran and Abdul Samad, who should know the pitch better having once been a member of SRH.

There is variety in the bowling attack too for LSG but even the likes of seasoned campaigners Mohammed Shami and Anrich Nortje need to come up with something special to check the rampaging SRH batters at the top. Pacers Prince Yadav, Mohsin Khan and spinners Shahbaz Ahmed and Abdul Samad need to check the flow of runs to give the team any chance to stay in the game.