The Indian Premier League is slowly getting underway. There is a lot of movement in the middle of the pack with teams like Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings starting to find their groove in the tournament. These are still early days in the tournament, but five of the 10 teams playing in the league are already tied on points. Aside from the full center, the two teams at the top are just 2 points over the rest of the five, and at the bottom of the table, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians are languishing – who have two and zero points to their name respectively.
And that brings us to Sunday, April 17, where in game one, Kane Williamson’s SRH will face Mayank Agarwal’s PBKS to separate themselves from the middle of the pack and keep pushing their top four agenda. In the second game of the day we have Ravindra Jadejas or should we say MS Dhoni’s for the sake of formalities – Chennai Super Kings, who are fighting for survival against the top of the table Gujarat Titans.
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PBKS vs SRH
The afternoon game kicks off at 3:30 PM at DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. Both teams have looked very good in their days and are quite contrasting in their approach to cricket.
While Punjab Kings are a high-energy and high-output outfit that can tear apart any attack on their days, SRH are the more measured. Supporting their stability in the batting setup, SRH is comfortable to hunt between 170-180 with ease. SRH lacks the sheer muscle that Punjab has throughout their lineup but has the versatility to match any attack in the world.
Both teams are on six points from their five games and appear to be on a winning trajectory.
For SRH, Washington Sundar will again be unavailable and it is unlikely that SRH will change their winning combination.
For PBKS, the batting lineup will try to blow off SRH’s humble bowling attack by choosing the right bowlers to hit at the right phases of the game.
Recent form
Punjab have won two of their last three matches, defending a 199 goal against Mumbai in their last match. On the other hand, SRH enjoys rich form and has won three at the trot since losing their first two matches in the competition.
protagonists
Liam Livingstone – Liam Livingstone doesn’t like to score slowly and that can be seen quite clearly from his strike rate of 186.36 this season. Equally adept at spin and pace, he can clear any terrain with sufficient balance when the ball falls into his arc.
Bhuvneshwar Kumara – A batting formation of the caliber of PBKS can only be contained if they lose wickets at the top. If Bhuvneshwar Kumar is able to pick wickets in the power play, SRH might just survive in tomorrow’s match. On Sunday, a lot of responsibility lies with the veteran.
Likely to play XI
PBKS: Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Odean Smith, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Vaibhav Arora, Arshdeep Singh
SRH: bhishek Sharma, Kane Williamson (c), Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, J Suchith, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik, T Natarajan
GT vs CSK
Chennai Super Kings have not enjoyed much under Ravindra Jadeja this season. After losing four games in a row, CSK finally got a breather against Royal Challengers Bangalore. But what a comeback that was. A special appearance by veteran Robin Uthappa and under criticism Shivam Dubey blew out Faf du Plessis and their men by winning the match by a margin of 23 runs.
CSK’s problems this season have been their bowling attack and they will be up against one of the explosive hitting units in the league. GT’s batting reserves may be short with an undersized number three and a no-performing opener, but the team has done wonders in terms of strategy.
Hardik Pandya at #4 with the rest of the players around him has worked so far, she won four of the games and there is no reason why they shouldn’t do well in this match.
There are questions about Rashid Khan’s performance this season, but he has six wickets this season with an economy of 6.55. He is also on the cusp of reaching 100 wickets.
Recent form
Chennai have won just one match of their last three matches, but that one win was a thumping one. From there they would like to make it two in a row.
Gujarat’s last win was a big one against the Rajasthan Royals, where Lockie Ferguson and debutant Yash Dayal together took six wickets and defended a 192-run goal. They have won two of their last three matches and are well matched against Chennai
protagonists
Rashid Khan – Gujarat Titans would hope Rashid Khan would fire at full blast against the Chennai Super Kings lineup. It will be interesting to see how Robin Uthappa and Shivam Dube, the heroes from the last game, make Rashid bigger.
Ravindra Jadeja – After playing understudy to MS Dhoni for several years, Ravindra Jadeja finds it quite difficult to break the captain’s armband. 56 runs at a stroke rate of 117 and four wickets at 8.24 economy doesn’t bode well for someone of Ravindra Jadeja’s stature and must hurry before it’s too late.
Likely playing XIs
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade (wk), B Sai Sudharsan, Hardik Pandya (c), Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Lockie Ferguson, Yash Dayal
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (c), Dwayne Bravo, Chris Jordan, Maheesh Theekshana, Mukesh Choudhary.