Sunrisers Hyderabad take on Gujarat Lions in their second consecutive home game of the 2017 Indian Premier League season at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad in the first of the double-header on Sunday.
The defending champions have started their campaign on a high by claiming a huge win against last year's runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore last Wednesday. On the other hand, Suresh Raina-led Gujarat were crushed by Kolkata Knight Riders at home as the latter gunned down a target of 184 without losing a wicket with Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn taking the hosts' bowlers to the cleaners.
Hyderabad begun from where they left last season as they posted 207 on the board after being sent into bat. Yuvraj Singh starred with a 27-ball 62 and if early signs are anything to go by, the all-rounder is looking good to make big runs this season.
Shikhar Dhawan's return to form should also boost their batting line-up, which also has in-form stars David Warner and Moises Henriques. Their pace battery also looks settled with the Ashish Nehra and Bhuvneshwar Kumar sharing the new ball and the addition of Afghanistan all-rounder Rashid Khan, who impressed on IPL debut with two wickets, has made their bowling line-up more potent.
On the other hand, Gujarat have to come up with better team selection as they stacked their line-up with four openers, all of them foreign players - Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum, Jason Roy and Aaron Finch in their last match. As a result, they struggled to contain the KKR openers, who looked untroubled throughout the chase.
The absence of Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo, their go-to-bowlers, is hurting the visitors but they can try Andrew Tye to boost their bowling line-up today.
TV Schedule
India: Sony Max, Sony Six
US: ESPN, Willow TV
UK: Sky Sports
Malaysia: Astro SuperSport
South Africa: SuperSport
Caribbean: Flow TV, Sportsmax
Middle East: OSN Cricket
New Zealand: SKy Sport
Afghanistan: Lemar TV
Team News
Hyderabad
Possible XI: Warner (c), Dhawan, Henriques, Yuvraj, Hooda, Cutting, Ojha (wk), Bipul, Kumar, Nehra, Rashid
Gujarat
Possible XI: Raina (c), Roy, McCullum, Karthik (wk), Smith, Gony, Kumar, Jakati, Kulkarni, Kaushik, Tye
