Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings will contest the last league game of IPL 2022, after which the playoffs will commence in Kolkata on May 24.
Both Sunrisers and Punjab will not be a part of the playoffs and will return to their respective homes after this match. Given that both teams have nothing to lose or gain from this match, they might give a chance to some of their players from the bench strength. Sunrisers may bring back Abdul Samad in the playing XI while Shahrukh Khan could be back for Punjab Kings.
The Sunrisers skipper Kane Williamson has returned home already and the side will be captained by Bhuvneshwar Kumar for this game.
The players to watch out in this match will be the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Abhishek Sharma and Umran Malik among others. Rabada has taken 22 wickets in just 12 games and will be looking to end the season with a couple more. Young opened Abhishek Sharma, meanwhile, has scored 383 runs in 13 games. Umran Malik, who is likely to win the emerging player of the season, has bowled the top fastest deliveries of this season and has made the best of batsmen dance to his tunes.
When Punjab and Hyderabad met for the reverse fixture last month, the Williamson-led side won by seven wickets. Umran Malik was awarded the player of the match for picking four wickets for just 28 runs.
Predicted XI
Sunrisers Hyderabad - Abhishek Sharma, Priyam Garg, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (c), Fazalhaq Farooqi, Umran Malik, T Natarajan/Kartik Tyagi
Punjab Kings - Jonny Bairstow, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa/Shahrukh Khan, Liam Livingstone, Mayank Agarwal (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
Image credit: IPL
