The second day of double headers in the Indian Premier League this weekend begin with a top vs second bottom clash when the Sunrisers Hyderabad take on the Kings XI Punjab.
After results earlier in the weekend the Sunrisers head to Mohali knowing if they win any of their last three they will be guaranteed a playoff spot. Kings XI need to win their last three matches and hope it is good enough to get them in.
Kings XI Punjab
The Kings XI had a great win over the Mumbai Indians in their last match. They had restricted Mumbai to nothing in their first 10 overs and while Kieron Pollard threatened to break out it never derailed them and when it came to chasing they were always in control.
Their bowling attack has performed for them all season but their batting has left plenty to be desired and if they can find three decent batting performances they could yet sneak into the end of season shake up.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
The Sunrisers were exposed by Delhi in their last match. They failed with the bat and for once there was no rescuing the situation with the ball. Their stuttering batting efforts are becoming more regular than they would like which isn’t ideal at this stage of the season.
More often than not they can rely on their bowling attack to defend scores but that doesn’t mean that the batsman can leave it all up to them as we saw in the previous match that they played.
Team news
Glenn Maxwell returned for the last match and was out first ball trying to boost the run rate. It looked bad but I don’t think it was bad enough to cost him his place especially with the Kings XI needing to up their game in the run rate department. They may well be unchanged.
Sunrisers Hyderabad don’t have many options with their batting so I’m expecting them to be unchanged too. They might decide to change the order around a little bit but that would be about it in terms of anything changing.
Form
Kings XI Punjab: LLWLLLWLWLW
Sunrisers Hyderabad: LLWWWLWWWWL
Head to head: Kings XI Punjab 2-5 Sunrisers Hyderabad
In Mohali: Kings XI Punjab 0-2 Sunrisers Hyderabad
PCA Stadium
This is the final match of the tournament on this ground. Generally the scores have been pretty good here throughout the event but when you include the World T20 there has been a lot of cricket played here in the last couple of months and while the square has held up well it would only be natural for it to tire a little.
The boundaries here are massive as always although you can reach them easier along the ground with the lightning fast outfield and that is why we’ve seen some decent scores so far this season. I expect the same here.
Betting
I would expect the Sunrisers to win this match but I’m not sure they are much of a betting proposition at odds on given the pretty solid beating they have just taken. I’m expecting this to be a lower scoring game given the strength of both lies with the ball and I don’t like taking odds on shots in matches with low totals.
That sends me heading to the sixes where a line of 9.5 looks too high for this ground. The boundaries are massive and I would say these are the best two bowling attacks in the competition, certainly in the powerplay at least.
Neither attack has a genuine weak link that can get carted around the park which is encouraging when fading a sixes line and really the Kings XI haven’t been hitting many sixes at all in the tournament. I don’t expect that to change against this Sunrisers attack and while the likes of Warner or Yuvraj might get hold of the odd Kings XI delivery it is hard to see them flogging it to all parts regularly so I think we’re safe with the unders.
Tips
Back Under 9.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Skybet
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