SRH, Lions target final berth

Preview

The fickle nature of Twenty20 format has often caught best of the teams off guard. With final berth of Indian Premier League at stake, the added pressure has only heightened the enormity of the task.

Both Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Lions are stacked with quality. It, though, would come down to the ability to cope with tricky conditions at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in IPL Qualifier 2 on Friday.

The pitch at the Kotla on Wednesday was two-paced and demanded batsmen to apply themselves. Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers, despite the absence of local boy and experienced Ashish Nehra, made the best of the opportunity. Their batsmen, too, showed intent in adjusting to the pace of the pitch. KKR batsmen, on the other hand, tried to force the pace and perished.

While the triumph must have invigorated the Sunrisers, who had lost three of their last four matches including to KKR, it also emphasised the fact that in T20, past records matter little. It, thus, puts in perspective their season's 2-0 record over Gujarat Lions, with whom they often exchanged top position during the league stage.

Lions, the table rulers are wounded following their four-wicket defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore. They had got the RCB batsmen in a bind, and couldn’t have been faulted for smelling victory but the genius of AB de Villiers denied them the honours. Regardless, Suresh Raina’s side is packed with match winners, especially in the batting, and can’t be taken lightly.

The intimidating line-up comprising Dwayne Smith, Aaron Finch, Brendon McCullum, Raina, Dinesh Karthik holds the ability to dictate the pace of the match. It, however, lacks a bit in uniformity with Finch, McCullum and Smith all being traditional openers. Despite that Smith conjured a splendid 73 coming at five against RCB with Karthik marshalling the middle-order with consistency.

Raina has done an impressive job of leading the new outfit to the play-offs and has carved out a fresh identity for himself as a leader. He has been among runs, too, rustling up three half-centuries in 14 matches. Lions’ attack might not have big names but they are not short of fire-power. They have the wily, street smart cricketer in Praveen Kumar, the unpredictability of Dwayne Bravo and variations of Dhawal Kulkarni to provide the early breakthroughs. Kulkarni is coming into the contest after single-handedly reducing RCB to 23/3 by the fourth over.

Left –arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Shadab Jakati have the goods to deliver on Kolta pitch. They, however, would need to quickly adapt to the conditions with Sunrisers already having the advantage of playing on the surface.

Importantly, Sunrisers have with them the momentum. It was a rare occasion against Knight Riders when their top order of David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan failed to give them the start. But Yuvraj Singh brought in his vast experience to shore up the batting. Before him, Moises Henriques had also had brief impressive stint of 31 off 21 balls. Henriques also impressed with his 2/17 to become a part of Sunrisers’ stellar performance with the ball.

Leading the attack was Bhuvneshwar Kumar with his figures of 3/19 at an economy of 4.75 and provided crucial breakthroughs. Ben Cutting, who replaced Kane Williamson against Knight Riders, too stood out. And though Mustafizur Rahman went wicketless, he did a superb act of suffocating the runs at the death. It indeed a cohesive team performance by Sunrisers who could enter the contest against Lions unchanged. At the threshold of the final and history, they would not like to go awry in playing their cards. Nor would the hurting Lions.