Press trust of india
Hyderabad, May 5: Smarting from back-to-back reverses, Gujarat Lions will have their task cut out when they lock horns with Sunrisers Hyderabad who are expecting their star all-rounder Yuvraj Singh to feature in the playing XI, in the Indian Premier League here Friday.
Starting with a string of victories, Gujarat Lions have hit a roadblock as they suffered defeats at the hands of laggards Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils in their last two outings at home. The debutants would hope playing away from home would bring some luck as the Suresh Raina-led side seek to revive its campaign.
Despite losses in the last two games, the Lions are placed second in the points table with six wins from nine appearances, while Sunrisers Hyderabad are occupying the fifth position with four victories.
SRH enjoy a psychological advantage as they won against Gujarat Lions by a comprehensive 10 wickets in their previous meeting. Captain David Warner has been one of the top run getters in the tournament and his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan also came up with substantial scores after being out of form initially. The middle-order comprising Moises Henriques, Naman Ojha and Deepak Hooda, have been impressive.
Sunrisers have quality bowlers in their ranks in seasoned Ashish Nehra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman and Henriques.
Gujarat Lions’ batting has mostly revolved around explosive openers Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith. Raina and Dinesh Karthik made useful contributions in the middle-order even though they failed in the match against Kings XI Punjab. The batting form of all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja remains a cause for concern.
