Apparently, it looks like Sunrisers Hyderabad are the favourites for their match against Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday. But the equation may not be that linear.
The Sunrisers are coming off a big victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders. They will be playing at their home ground with crowd support.
The Super Giants, on the other hand, lost their opening game of the season to Delhi Capitals after managing just 140-odd with the bat.
While the Super Giants batters struggled, Sunrisers have a terrifying top three, with Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Ishan Kishan all capable of single-handedly winning the match for their team. There’s also Heinrich Klaasen in the middle order to carry the baton of run-scoring. But that’s half the story.
On the other side of it, we see Super Giants possessing a very potent bowling attack, one that looked capable of defending their low total in the game against Delhi before Sameer Rizvi played a defiant and dazzling knock. The invaluable experience and control of Mohammed Shami, the breakneck speed of Anrich Nortje and the enterprising talents of Mohsin Khan and Prince Yadav give the Super Giants an edge. To that attack, they will, in all probability, add the spin of Digvesh Rathi, enhancing its variety. They can challenge Sunrisers’ batting line-up, which appears thin beyond No. 4.
To talk of the Super Giants’ batting, which didn’t click in their season opener, it’s way too good to fail in every game. The only dilemma for them is fixing skipper Rishabh Pant’s batting order. Pant opened the other day, but may not do so on Sunday. With Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram in the team, he doesn’t need to. They also have Nicholas Pooran, a specialist destroyer.