Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad face off to resurrect their Dream11 IPL 2020 campaigns

Two teams who are in bottom of the points table will fight it out to revive their Dream11 IPL seasons when the Sunrisers Hyderabad take on the Kings XI Punjab. Both the teams have failed to put up consistently good performances and their position on the points table - Sunrisers at 6th and Kings XI at rock bottom reflects their fortunes.

It is not often that a team that has two batsmen in the top 3 run-scorers of the tournament finds itself at the bottom end. But, despite their captain KL Rahul at the top of the pile with 302, and Mayank Agarwal just 30 runs behind at 3rd, the Kings find themselves at the bottom of the pile. The Kings XI are yet to put up a collective performance, and that has hurt them. While their openers have been consistently good, their middle order is yet to conjure up the sort of performances that would inspire confidence. While Pooran has looked impressive, Maxwell’s tally of 41 runs from 5 innings hardly justifies an overseas slot. Karun Nair has gotten only 2 fair trials near the top of the order and has 1 run to show from those two opportunities.

More than their batting, however, it is their bowling that will be a major source of concern for the Kings. On his good days, Sheldon Cottrell has produced eye-catching performances, but on his bad days he has given away far too many runs. Except for Mohammed Shami and Ravi Bishnoi, the rest of their attack seems ordinary at best. The 10-wicket loss to the Superkings would have hurt them, and the Kings will be keen to come back stronger.

The loss to the Mumbai Indians would have come as a hammer blow to the Sunrisers who were just beginning to build some momentum in the tournament. The loss of  Bhuvneshwar Kumar will have a huge impact on their campaign given that his replacements in Sandeep Sharma and Siddarth Kaul have not shown any signs of filling in Bhuvneshwar’s boots. Despite Rashid Khan’s miserly economy, the Sunrisers were not able to contain the rampaging Mumbai batting at the death, giving away 59 runs from the last 4 overs.

Sunrisers’ success even in the last season was down to their top 3 firing. The inconsistency of Warner and Bairstow at the top has been symptomatic of their failings to produce consistent results. Manish Pandey has looked impressive in patches at No.3, while Williamson is yet to hit his straps. Their fairly inexperienced batting after 4 has meant that the top 4 have extra pressure on them to perform in every game which may have hampered their freedom.

One win from 6 games will almost mean the Kings will need to go on an unbelievable run to make it to the top 4, and the Kings will be hoping to avoid that scenario with a win. The Sunrisers will be looking to bounce back after their loss to the Mumbai Indians and a win would catapult them to the 4th position on the points table. The game is expected to be contested evenly with neither team having a standout reason to be considered favorites.