Shaurya Dutt
- Sep 25, 2021
- 3 min read

IPL 2021 – PBKS vs SRH – Preview – It’s now or never for Punjab; Sunrisers look to stem disarray

Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) yet to find their mojo this season.

IPL 2021, PBKSvsSRH, Preview: Punjab Kings to face Sunrisers Hyderabad in 37th match of IPL 2021, Match Preview, Date, Timing, schedule

Battle of survival between teams from bottom of the points table. (©BCCI/IPL)

The bottom two teams in the points table KL Rahul’s Punjab Kings and Kane Williamson’s Sunrisers Hyderabad will be clashing against each other in the 37th encounter of the Indian Premier League at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Currently, Punjab Kings are in seventh position with three wins in nine games while Rajasthan Royals are at last spot with two points from nine games. In the Head to Head battle, Sunrisers Hyderabad have beaten the Punjab Kings 12 times in 17 meetings, including three of the last four wins, and their only win this season.

Overview

Both sides lost their opener of the second phase of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League. On one side, Punjab Kings lost to Rajasthan Royals in the last over when they were not able to score four runs from Kartik Tyagi’s over while on the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad lost to Delhi Capitals when they were able to score 138 runs and were not able to defend the score and lost the match in 17.5 overs of the 33rd match of IPL 2021.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) lone victory in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 came against Punjab Kings (PBKS) and they will be hoping to emulate the clinical fashion in which they secured that victory in a bid to galvanise their campaign.

For the Kings, who have made it a habit of losing games from winning positions, there were plenty of things that they did right in the last game against Rajasthan Royals and they will only be hoping that they don't run out of fuel again.

Team News

Batting woes has gotten worsen for SRH as Jonny Bairstow's replacement Sherfane Rutherford is leaving the tournament bubble following the death of his father. However, he didn't feature in playing XI in the last game against Delhi Capitals.

After T. Natarajan found Covid-19 positive, SRH have added the Jammu & Kashmir fast bowler Umran Malik to their squad. He was part of SRH's contingent as a net bowler.

Conditions - PBKS top-order scored three centuries in Sharjah last year

Hyderabad and Punjab will be playing their first game in Sharjah, where both squads won two out of the three games that they played at this venue last year in 2020.

PBKS have enjoyed the small boundaries in this ground of the Northern Emirates, with as many as five half-centuries and a century among the top-order in the three games in 2020. SRH, on the other hand, were clinical with the ball in two of their matches in Sharjah last year, which potentially sets up an engrossing battle between bat and ball.

The IPL matches early in the 2020 season in Sharjah were loaded heavily in favour of batters, with the short boundaries and flat pitches paving way for 200-plus totals with regularity, but as the season wore on the pitches slowed down. Considering that the SRH-PBKS match will only be the second game at this venue in the UAE leg of IPL 2021, the teams can gear up for a high-scoring contest.

IPL 2021 Points Table

Probable XIs

Punjab Kings Probable XI - KL Rahul (c & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Fabian Allen, Adil Rahid, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Ishan Porel

Sunrisers Hyderabad Probable XI - David Warner, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed

Stat Alert

- Highest run-getters for Punjab Kings against Sunrisers Hyderabad are KL Rahul with 242 runs, Manan Vohra with 195 runs and David Miller with 186 runs while on the other hand, highest run-scorers for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Punjab Kings are David Warner with 698 runs, Shikhar Dhawan with 259 runs and Manish Pandey with 182 runs.

- Highest wicket takers for PBKS against SRH are Sandeep Sharma with 9 wickets, Axar Patel with 7 wickets, and Arshdeep Singh & Mohit Sharma with 6 wickets apiece. The highest wicket takers for SRH against PBKS are Bhuvneshwar Kumar with 19 wickets, Rashid Khan with 17 wickets and Khaleel Ahmed with 8 wickets.

- Chris Gayle is the only batter in both the teams who has scored a century - 104* for PBKS in 2018.

- KL Rahul averages only 6 with a strike rate of 60 against Rashid Khan in IPL and he has got dismissed three times against the leggie.

The 37th match between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) begins at 19:30 hours IST.