Sunrisers look to get off their mark as Supergiants hope to build momentum

In what seemed like a familiar scenario for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, they have once again been off to a tardy start to the IPL campaign as they were drubbed emphatically in the season opener by the Rajasthan Royals. Despite all the reinforcements in the auction, their batters still failed to bring out the heavy artillery and in a tournament where teams batting second have savored an upper hand, they crumbled like a house of cards in the face of the Royals' storm.

Lucknow Super Giants started their campaign on a bitter note as they were surpassed by the likes of the Gujarat Titans in their opener. However, Rahul and his men managed to reel things back in as they smashed an emphatic victory against the Chennai Super Kings, chasing down a momentous total of 211.

Both the teams will have contrasting internal matters to look into, with the Sunrisers just having an added bit of catching up to do. For the Orange Army, the entire team seems to be in disarray as their bowlers were all over the place, frequently missing out on the perfect line and length. Their batters had no clue of what exactly hit them until Washington Sundar and Aiden Markram came together to save the side that was teetering at 37 for 5 while chasing 211.

Their strike bowler, T Natarajan was whacked around for a staggering 43 runs, claiming two wickets in the process. Bhuvneshwar Kumar may have just conceded 29 runs but he was haywire, allowing the Royals to get away.

Despite Lucknow being on the winning side as their batters came back to form, especially the two openers, Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul, their bowling will be a major concern with a string of sloppy displays that was whacked around mercilessly in both the games. Barring Ravi Bishnoi, the remaining bowling department has been taken to the cleaners way too frequently.

This can be a decent contest as two teams will be hungry for blood, especially given the rocky start that they have had to the fifteenth edition of the franchise extravaganza.

Venue Watch:

DY Patil Stadium has so far been conducive for the batters and for the ones chasing, it has evolved into a full-blown paradise, especially with the dew kicking in. The initial overs of the game will witness the pacers savor some early bounce and swing but once the early storm has been weathered, from there it will be a free flow of runs for the ones with the willow. The second half of the game may even witness some additional turn that may create a handful of challenges for the batters.

Squads:

Lucknow Super Giants:

Quinton de Kock, Manish Pandey, Jason Holder, KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Mark Wood, Avesh Khan, Ankit Rajpoot, K Gowtham, Dushmanta Chameera, Shahbaz Nadeem, Manan Vohra, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Karan Sharma, Evin Lewis, Mayank Yadav, B Sai Sudharsan

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, Umran Malik, Washington Sundar, Nicholas Pooran, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Priyam Garg, Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma, Kartik Tyagi, Shreyas Gopal, J Suchith, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Romario Shepherd, R Samarth, Shashank Singh, Saurabh Dubey, Vishnu Vinod, Glenn Phillips, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

Match Details:

Lucknow Super Giants vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

Venue: Dr. DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai

Date: 4th April 2022

Time: 7:30 PM IST