Playing XIs
Lucknow Super Giants: 1 KL Rahul, 2 Quinton de Kock, 3 Marcus Stoinis, 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Ayush Badoni, 6 Deepak Hooda, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 K Gowtham, 9 Yash Thakur, 10 Ravi Bishnoi, 11 Naveen Ul Haq
LSG impact players: Amit Mishra, M Siddharth, Yudhvir Singh, Ashton Turner, Devdutt Padikkal
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Nitish Reddy, 2 Travis Head, 3 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 4 Abdul Samad, 5 Shahbaz Ahmed, 6 Sanvir Singh, 7 Pat Cummins (capt), 8 Jaydev Unadkat, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Viyaskanth Vijayakanth 11 T Natarajan
SRH Impact Players Umran Malik, Mayank Agarwal, Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar, Abhishek Sharma
Suraj: “Who is Vijayakanth Viyaskanth?” He is a rookie Sri Lankan leg-spinner and was signed as replacement for Wanindu Hasaranga. From 33 T20 games, he has 42 wickets at 18.78 and an economy of 6.76 an over. Viyaskanth did well for MI Emirates at ILT20 earlier in the year
Here’s Krunal Pandya speaking ahead of the game: A tough loss [vs KKR]. Not much in terms of preparation, yesterday the practice session got washed. A more of a mental switch on [for this game]. It’s been close to two months in the tournament. We want to rectify our mistakes and keep doing what we have been doing in the tournament. [On SRH] They are very good batting side, they come very hard. We have to be on top of the game and can’t take it lightly. We just have to win those small battles, that’s every ball, every over. Everything remains same, just the opposition chances. [Bowlers getting pasted] It has been tough. But I feel I have bowled really well, whatever games I have played, whatever chances I have got. My role it to contain the batters. My role has been simple as a bowler. [What’s changed with batters] What I have realised is that there is a lot of fearless batting, and the Impact Player has made an impact on the batting side. You know there are three four batters coming in. There is a switch in the mindset of the players. Batting has evolved, you just have to be on top of your game. The batting is getting top class every year. [On his batting] I’d also love to bat higher the order. I have not faced many balls. But yeah, will love to get the opportunity and get some runs for the team.
kaushik: “Why do you think SRH played Sanvir Singh ahead of Glenn Phillips, despite having another overseas spot open? I don’t get the thought process…” They are playing four overseas players, Head, Cummins, Klaasen and Viyaskanth.
Mustafa Moudi: “Really baffling to see Rahul Tripathi has been continuously being overlooked. Agreed he hasnt done extraordinarily well but he deserves at least one chance !!”
Kevin: “We´ve seen Thushara under the tutelage of Malinga at MI. Today, Vijayakanth “Viyas” Viyaskanth will be making his IPL debut under the watchful eye of the great Muttiah Muralitharan. Go well thambi!”
7pm Toss: SRH captain Pat Cummins has the coin. Tails is the call from KL Rahul and tails it is. LSG are batting first. There are a few changes in both teams.
KL Rahul: Couple of wins that have been played here have been high-scoring, so want to capitalise on that. It’s hard to completely forget how important this game is. We need to hold out nerve and find ways to enjoy the game. We need to start well, get those six overs going. [Away games] Every team loves playing at home, we would have liked that. Away games are not bad either .We know about the conditions, so not much difference. Quinton de Kock comes in, Mohsin misses out due to injury, and there are a few other changes.
Pat Cummins: Body feels older. We wanted to bat as well. We have won both ways here. So not too upset. Not super important, the toss. Been high-scoring in both innings. It’s pretty tough, got to win till the end. We have been off on the last few games. Sanvir comes in for Mayank. Vijayakanth makes his debut coming in for Jansen
Toss and teams in a bit.
John: “Mustafa Moudi – Pat retained the Ashes, didn’t win it. :)”
Anant: “If both SRH and LSG are on same points, why will LSG’s win ruin Mumbai’s chances and not SRH’s win?” An SRH win will mean MI are out, because LSG play DC later and one of them will get out of MI’s reach, along with KKR, RR and SRH.
6.50pm Pitch report from Mathew Hayden and Sanjay Manjrekar: Pitch no 2 being used, the same one where there was a record-breaking score [by SRH against MI]. This pitch has its own stardom. There is no mini boundary, just a difference of three metres here and there. Boundaries are a little supportive of the spinners. It is the height of the Indian summer. It’s like walking into a clay oven. Rock hard pitch, really dry, still feels warm when you touch it. The head has opened up the tiny cracks. Hayden says he will be surprised to see a record-breaking score. The bowlers will use their cutters and Hayden reckons 200 will be par. Long boundaries, team winning the toss might want to bat first, he says.
Anonymous: “As a CSK fan, who among these two should I be rooting for today?” S Rajesh has the answer to you question.
Mustafa Moudi: “Wishing a Very 31st Birthday to the Australian and SRH Skipper Pat Cummins. Since he turned 30 last year, he won the WTC, Ashes and the World Cup within a year. Hope his next year is as successful as the previous one !!”
6.45pm The other thing to keep a close eye is the weather. The practice session on the eve of the game was cancelled due to rain and thunderstorms, and while it is clear at the moment, there could be a disruption later in the evening. Will that change the way how the two teams shape up? We’ll know in a bit.
6.40pmIt’s no secret that runs have flowed in Hyderabad this season. This was the venue which made IPL 2024 as big in terms of runs with SRH slamming a record-breaking 277 in their first match here. In eight innings in Hyderabad this season, teams have scored 200 or more five times, and hit 92 sixes. That’s where SRH will hope to have the edge over LSG. SRH have hit the most sixes in the powerplay this season, 41 to LSG’s 20, while going at a run rate of 11.04 as compared to LSG’s 8.48. In the death overs, they have hit 36 sixes, again the most, while LSG’s 16 sixes are the fewest in that phase. This and a lot more in the preview.
6.30pm IPL S17E57. Hello and good evening. Today we have Sunrisers Hyderabad taking on Lucknow Super Giants in Hyderabad. Two teams, with the same number of points, trying to get out of the mid-table scrum and give their playoffs chances a boost. It’s a high-stakes clash. There are four sides on 12 points at the moment: CSK, SRH, DC and LSG. The team that wins goes to third position on the points table, ahead of CSK, but the one that loses will have another dent on their NRR, which is not ideal in the business end of the tournament. I am Ashish Pant, and will soon have Andrew Miller joining me as we bring to you all the info from what’s shaping up to be a riveting clash.