(Cricket news) Punjab Kings will be looking for their 3rd consecutive win as they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Sunrisers Hyderabad have lost 2 games but the major disappointment for them has been their below par performance. They will need to fix a couple of things to put in a better performance. Punjab Kings are looking incredibly balanced and the players are stepping up under the leadership of Shikhar Dhawan. These two teams have faced each other 19 times out of which Sunrisers Hyderabad have won 13 while Punjab Kings have only won 6.

Sunrisers Hyderabad possible playing XI:

Mayank Agarwal, Anmolpreet Singh (wk), Rahul Tripathi/Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram (c), Harry Brook, Washington Sundar, Abdul Samad, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Adil Rashid

Bench: 

Heinrich Klaasen, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mayank Markande, Mayank Dagar, Marco Jansen, Abhishek Sharma, Upendra Yadav, Glenn Phillips, Akeal Hosein, Vivrant Sharma, Samarth Vyas, Kartik Tyagi, Sanvir Singh, Nitish Reddy

Sunrisers Hyderabad took the tough call of benching Abhishek Sharma last time out. Adil Rashid has bowled well in the tournament so far so he is expected to be continued. Marco Jansen could get a game as an impact player this time around. The batting unit needs to do much better than they are doing as they haven’t scored enough runs. Their big money signing Harry Brook hasn’t fired yet and the pressure will be building on him because there are other players who are waiting on the bench.

Punjab Kings ideal playing XI:

Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa/Rishi Dhawan, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh

Bench:

Atharva Taide, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Matthew Short, Mohit Rathee, Shivam Singh, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Baltej Singh, Gurnoor Brar, Kagiso Rabada 

Bhanuka Rajapaksa got hit by Shikhar Dhawan’s shot while at the non striker’s end. He has however been cleared off any serious injury and is likely to be available. Kagiso Rabada is available but he might have to wait on the bench as Nahtan Ellis won the player of the match award in the last match and Sikandar Raza is also playing well. Punjab Kings will be looking to continue the momentum that they have built so far by playing good cricket.

Also read: Should IPL performances be considered for selection in other formats?