SRH, KXIP desperately need a win to keep afloat

A team’s success doesn’t merely depend on individual performances but on collective effort. This can be said for Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the ongoing IPL as they now have four defeats from five games despite witnessing fine performances from Mayank Agarwal and skipper KL Rahul. 

They will now face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), who too have their own worries despite the presence of some quality players in their ranks. And in such a scenario, none of the two sides will leave any stone unturned to garner a much-needed win on Thursday evening. KXIP’s batting has relied completely on Rahul and Mayank, who have amassed 302 and 272 runs respectively. 

Despite also having Glenn Maxwell and Nicholas Pooran in their ranks, the team has struggled on almost every occasion once the opening pair has departed. KXIP needs to fix this problem as soon as possible if they aim to enter the play-offs stage. Similar is the story of their bowling attack, which has so far revolved only around Mohammed Shami. Barring the India speedster, the others – M Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Sheldon Cottrell, have largely failed. 

The KL Rahul-led side needs to click as a unit not only against SRH but in the other clashes too, if they want to remain in hunt of a playoffs berth. SRH too have faced problems in the middle-order. After David Warner and Jonny Bairstow, who open the innings, the middle-order has mostly let the team down. The 2016 IPL champions lack a power-hitter in the middle-order. Priyam Garg came up with a halfcentury in a game but the 19-year-old has failed to maintain consistency. Moreover, SRH’s most dependable batsman Kane Williamson has not been up to mark, failing to anchor the innings whenever needed.

 On the bowling front, SRH’s thinktank would surely be in a dilemma after losing the services of their most reliable and most experienced seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has now b e e n ruled out of the season and replaced by Prithvi Raj Yarra. It would be an opportunity for T Natarajan, Khaleel Ahmed and Sandeep Sharma to fill the gap and hog the limelight in the absence of Bhuvneshwar but it remains to be seen which of them grabs the opportunity with both hands. 

Rashid Khan will once again be SRH’s go-to man but the Afghan spinner now also needs to lead the entire SRH bowling attack, being the most experienced of all. Warner supported youngsters Abhishek Sharma and Abdul Samad to fill in for the fifth bowler and the risk paid off as the former champions won two games on the trot. However, the team was dealt a massive blow when senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was ruled out of the tournament with a thigh muscle injury.

 In Bhuvneshwar’s absence, Sunrisers are lagging behind in their bowling department. Apart from T Natarajan, fast bowlers Sandeep Sharma and Siddarth Kaul proved to be very expensive. Samad was not economical either, which led Warner to turn to Williamson to bowl two overs of off-spin against Mumbai.