FANTASY
Follow UsAfter a rocky start to the Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have bounced back with three wins in a row. Their Sunday opponents Punjab Kings (PBKS) on the other hand are yet to register back-to-back wins this season and will be looking to do so with a win in this game at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai.
Both teams are tied at six points apiece, but PBKS are placed third due to a superior net run rate, while SRH are in the seventh position. SRH have the upper hand when it comes to the head-to-head contest in IPL having won 12 of the 18 matches against PBKS. The Men in Orange also have a slight edge in the last five matches.
IPL head-to-head
Overall Matches: 18 | SRH 12 wins | PBKS 6 wins
Last five matches: SRH 3 wins | PBKS 2 wins
Suggested team
Ground details
While the pacers have picked up 64% of the wickets, it is the spinners who have been far more economical (7.5) and have struck at a better balls per wicket ratio (20.9) and runs per wicket ratio (26.3).
With more and more matches played at the same pitch, the wear and tear has got the spinners come into the game as well and their share of wickets will only go up as the tournament progresses.
Captain
Shikhar Dhawan has been in good form in IPL this season with scores of 43, 16, 33, 35 and 70 this season so far. He has been the most consistent batter for Punjab this season which does not come as much of a surprise given that Dhawan is just one of four batters to have scored in excess of 1,000 runs in IPL since 2020. His 1,402 runs in this period have come at an average of 41.24 and strike-rate of 134. Only KL Rahul with 1,428 runs has scored more.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Dhawan could score 31-47 runs in this match
X-Factors
No bowler has bowled more Yorkers than T Natarajan in the IPL 2022. His Yorkers have induced a false shot% of 40. Returning from injuries, Natarajan has gotten right into the groove, having picked up 11 wickets at 15.45 from five matches striking once every 10.9 deliveries. He could be quite a handful against the hard-hitting Punjab batters.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Natarajan could pick up 0-1 wickets in this match
Since his duck in SRH’s disastrous first match of IPL 2022 against Rajasthan Royals (RR), Rahul Tripathi has turned a corner smashing 44, 39* 17* and 71 in his next four innings. He played eye-catching shots in the previous match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on his way to player of the match-winning 37-ball 71. He is SRH’s leading run-getter for SRH this season with 171 runs at a strike-rate of 178.12.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Tripathi could score 34-52 runs in this match
The DY Patil Stadium has seen the most wickets taken in IPL 2022 by leg-spinners, which could bode well for PBKS spinner Rahul Chahar, who has picked up seven wickets at 20.71 this season so far. The leg-spinners have accounted for 14.71% of wickets at the venue this season, which is the most after the fast bowlers who have picked up 64% of the wickets. Barring his off day against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the previous match, Chahar has been on top of his game, picking up two wickets or more in two of his four. We could be in for yet another top performance from Chahar in this game.
Our Criclytics player projector predicts Chahar could pick up 1-2 wickets in this match
Here are the top-10 picks as per Criclytics projected points:
Probable XIs:
PBKS: Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Odean Smith, Shahrukh Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Vaibhav Arora, Arshdeep Singh
SRH: Abhishek Sharma, Kane Williamson (c), Rahul Tripathi, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Aiden Markram, Shashank Singh, Jagadeesha Suchith, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Marco Jansen, Umran Malik, T Natarajan