Gujarat shall be locking horns against defending champs Sunrisers Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Hyderabad on Sunday. The match is scheduled to commence at 4:00 pm. The teams have faced off against each other on three previous occasions in the last season, with Sunrisers winning all three encounters.
Gujarat Lions vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Head to Head
Total Played - 3
Sunrisers Hyderabad - 3
Gujarat Lions - 0
Tournament Form
SRH defeated RCB by 35 runs
SRH shall go into the match with a lot of confidence after opening their title defence with a clinical wicket over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the season opener. Yuvraj Singh and Moses Henriques' splendid batting heroics were the architects of SRHs win.The stylish southpaw scored an explosive 62 off just 27 balls to steer his team to a daunting 182 run target. In reply Chris Gayle and Mandeep Singh provided some fireworks but dint last long.
Watson and Jadhav provided some impetus in the middle but the asking rate kept climbing. Rashid Khan was the pick of the SRH bowlers as the promising Afghan spinner scalped two wickets and put the brakes on the scoring rate. Meanwhile seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was brilliant with the ball in the death overs.
Gujarat Lions lost to Kolkata Knightriders by 10 wickets
Meanwhile Gujarat had a disappointing start to their campaign with a loss to Kolkata Knight Riders in their opening game. Gujarat put up an impressive 183 runs on the board courtesy some fireworks from Brendon Mcullum upfront followed by a well compiled half century by captain Suresh Raina who was ably partnered by wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik.
The spin trioka of Kuldeep Yadav, Sunil Narine and Piyush Chawla bowled well to restrict the Lions to under 200. The Lions were unable to defend the mammoth total as Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn toyed with their pace attack by slaying their pacers to all corners of the ground.
Lynn promoted up the batting order was severe right from the start and scored a 93 off just 41 balls. Captain Gambhir provided Lynn with good support at the other end by registering a sublime 76 run knock.
Likely Playing Eleven
Sunrisers Hyderabad Probable XI: David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Yuvraj Singh, Deepak Hooda, Naman Ojha, Ben Cutting, Bipul Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Rashid Khan
Gujarat Lions Probable XI: Brendon McCullum, Jason Roy, Suresh Raina, Aaron Finch, Dinesh Karthik, James Faulkner, Nathu Singh, Praveen Kumar, Shadab Jakati, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shivil Kaushik
Match Verdict
So going both by recent form and the head to head between the two sides, Sunrisers clearly hold the edge over their opponents