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IPL 2021 | SRH vs PBKS: It’s ‘do or die’ as two teams struggling to find rhythm face each other

Abhishek Singh

It’s not often in the recent years in the Indian Premier League that Sunrises Hyderabad is lying t the bottom of the table. But this has been one such season where nothing has worked for the Orange Army so far. They have lost seven of the eight matches that they have played and are only relying on mathematical chances of qualification for the Playoffs. 

But even for the mathematical chances to come into play, they must win all their matches from here on, starting with their upcoming encounter against Punjab Kings.

The Kings on the other hand have problems of their one to sort after losing a match that was in their pockets the last time they played in this tournament. Losing by two runs to Rajasthan Royals, failing to chase four runs in the last over, the KL Rahul unit would have gone through a thorough introspection. 

However, with three wins in their kitty so far, Punjab is really not on the verge of going out of the race of the qualification as of yet, but a loss in this game would mean that they would have to win almost all games in their remaining four games to get a chance at the Playoffs qualification. Thus to avoid falling into that trap, the Kings must now get going and stop faltering at the last bit. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Punjab Kings: Details

Match number: 37

Date and Time: Sept 25, 2021, 07:30 pm IST (10:00 GMT), 06:00 pm Local, 02:00 pm GMT

Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah

Broadcast and Livestream: Star Sports and Hotstar

Pitch Report

When it comes to Sharjah, Punjab Kings wouldn’t really have great memories after losing close games at this venue, especially the one that they lost against Rajasthan Royals courtesy of Rahul Tewatia’s brilliance. 

Thus there is nothing to guess about the pitch as there would only be runs and lots of runs as the pitch remains flat and the dimensions of the ground make it even easier for the batters. 

Weather Forecast

A dust storm in the first game at the venue must have sent some worrying signs to the fans. But as it has been over the years, even in a dust storm, the game does go on. While the wind would still blow at 13 KMPH during the evening, the ground would remain best suited for a cricket game. 

Team News

Sunrisers Hyderabad

In the last game, the Sunrisers played their best XI possible in the circumstances as T Natarajan and Vijay Shankar were not available due to the former testing positive for Covid-19 and the latter being a close contact. However, with David Warner failing once again, it is difficult to not play Jason Roy in his place. The likes of Abhishek Sharma could also play in place of Kedar Jadhav. 

Probable XI

David Warner/ Jason Roy, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson (c), Abhishek Sharma, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed

Punjab Kings

There wasn’t much of a fault of the Punjab Kings, rather a brilliant over by Kartik Tyagi that robbed them of the two points. In terms of changes, if Fabian Allen wasn’t even given the bowl, then what is the use of playing him? Instead, Ravi Bishnoi, Nathan Ellis and Chris Jordan could come into the XI in place of Allen, Adil Rashid and Ishan Porel. 

Moreover, playing three spinners in Sharjah is not a great option anyways. Deepak Hooda could also be replaced by Shahrukh Khan if the management feels like it.  

Probable XI

KL Rahul (c & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda/ Shahrukh Khan, Chris Jordan, Ravi Bishnoi, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh

Dream XI team

Wicketkeepers KL Rahul, Nicholas Pooran

Batters Jason Roy, Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson

All-rounders Jason Holder, 

Bowlers Rashid Khan, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh

Vice-Captain Rashid Khan

Captain KL Rahul

Discover more

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National T20 Cup: A brief history of the premier domestic T20 tournament of Pakistan

On Thursday, September 23, the 19th edition of the oldest Pakistani T20 domestic tournament, the National T20 Cup began in Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi. This year’s tournament has brought in huge excitement for the first time since 2015, the year after which the Pakistan Super League began and become the premier T20 tournament of the country. Prior to the PSL, this tournament was the biggest T20 competition in the country. So before the 2021-22 edition really gets to the business end, it would be a great idea to know about its emergence. The beginning When the first tournament began in 2004-05, nine teams were from seven different cities were pulled into three groups and the top team from each group then came together to play a triangular series and the top two played the final. Faisalabad Wolves beat Karachi Dolphins to lift the inaugural edition of the tournament. The format was changed in the next edition of the tournament as 13 teams from 11 cities were divided into two groups and the top two teams from each group then played each other in the semi-finals with the final being contested between Faisalabad Wolves and Sialkot Stallions. This time around, Wolves were beaten courtesy of an all-around show by Rana Naved-Ul-Hasan. The four groups format The concept was once again changed in the 2006-07 season with the 13 teams now being divided into four groups with three groups having three teams each while one group had four teams. The group topper from each group entered the semi-finals. This system and the 13 teams remained in existence till the 2011 season of the tournament. During this era, Sialkot Stallions were almost unbeatable as they went on to win five consecutive titles. Among the five seasons of the 13 teams and four groups, tournament, only one team apart from the Sialkot was able to win the tournament and it was in the last season where Lahore Lions beat Karachi Dolphins in the 2010-11 season of the tournament. From 2006-07 to 2009-10, Sialkot beat Faisalabad, Karachi Dolphins twice and Lahore Lions respectively. The era of uncertainty From the 2011 season onwards, the format started to change almost every season with the 2011 season being a Super eight tournament. It was won by Rawalpindi Rams who beat Karachi Dolphins in the fina. The 2011-12 season went back to four groups round robin leading to semi-finals, only this time though, there were 14 teams, with one of them named Afghan Cheetahs. While Sialkot Stallions won the 2011-12 season beating Rawalpindi in the final, Lahore Lions beat Faisalabad Wolves in the 2012-13 season finale. From the 2013-14 season, the Afghan Cheetahs were changed to FATA Cheetahs and the number of teams was increased to 17. Lahore Lions won their second title in a row as a repeat of the 2012-13 season final was on display. Faisalabad Wolves once again lost. For the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, the number of teams was increased to 18 and Peshawar Panthers won two back to back seasons, beating Lahore Lions and Karachi Zebras respectively. The streamlining phase From 2016 to 2018, the Pakistan Cricket Board tried to streamline the tournament as it now had PSL to run as well. So the number of teams was reduced to eight for the smooth running of the league. In the 2016-17 season, two teams each from Lahore and Karachi were paired with four teams from FATA, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Peshawar. In the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons though, one team from Karachi was replaced by a team from Faisalabad. While the 2016-17 season was won by Karachi blues, beating Karachi Whites in an all Krachi final at the Multan Cricket Stadium. The next two season was won by two teams from Lahore as in the all Lahore Final in 2017-18, Lahore Blues beat Lahore Whites, while in the next fina, the whites made sure that they were not losing two finals in a row. They beat Rawalpindi by two wickets in the final held at Multan. The current version The Pakistan domestic cricket saw a great overhaul in 2018 with Wasim Khan becoming the Chief Executive Officer of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Domestic cricket was made a six-team affair which contested in all three formats and also at the junior level. The six teams represented five provinces of Pakistan with the biggest province, Punjab getting two teams to represent them. Thus the six teams, Northern, Southern Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Central Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan have now been contesting the T20 Cup as well since 2019-20. The competition is a double round-robin, then semi-finals and the final now, although the first one was a single round-robin. In the 2019-20 edition, Northern beat Balochistan by 52 runs to win the finale while the last season was won by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where they beat Southern Punjab by 10 runs in the final held at the Pindi Stadium.

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IPL 2021 | RCB eye 'specific' areas to challenge CSK after swallowing 'tough pill' against KKR

The Royal Challengers Bangalore have had a “tough pill to swallow” against the Kolkata Knight Riders in their last and first game of the second phase of the IPL 2021 and Mike Hesson offered no explanation but an acknowledgement of marking such performances as “unacceptable”. However, he does not look back on the game too seriously and instead is backing his “very good side with very good players” to attack the Chennai Super King in “specific” areas in their next encounter. "I think we have been really specific on how we are going to attack CSK and obviously the conditions of Sharjah will be different as well. We have also acknowledged that the last game was not acceptable but we also know that we are a very good side with very good players, so we have loads of confidence in the camp," Mike Hesson said in RCB’s Game Day video. Both the Super Kings and the Royal Challengers will be playing their first game at Sharjah Cricket Stadium that has short boundaries in all parts and Hesson suggested that the men in red and gold will have their eyes on that aspect while devising a strategy for the game. He also suggested that the Virat Kohli-led side can bring in changes to challenge the CSK and suit playing conditions at Sharjah "Obviously, we know that the ground has a lot of boundaries in it, so we got to a have a side that can maximise that. So will certainly look at that from a 11 perspective. But also we need to bowl well as well, so we need to have guys that are able to hit those lengths that we need to be able to defend. So it requires a bit of balancing act and a balance that would challenge CSK,” Hesson added. This will be the second encounter between MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli in this edition and Kohli will be eager to avenge a big defeat his side had suffered in the first phase of the tournament.