After a meek surrender against Rajasthan Royals in its Indian Premier League opening fixture, Sunrisers Hyderabad will be hoping to bounce back when it faces Lucknow Super Giants at the DY Patil Stadium on Monday.
While its pace bowling line-up, comprising Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik and T Natarajan failed to impress, the Hyderabad outfit struggled in the batting department as well, with none of its top recruits - except Aiden Markram - showing intent.
In a key fixture, the focus will once again be on captain Kane Williamson and Nicholas Pooran, along with Indian recruits Abdul Samad and Abhishek Sharma. Being a consistent unit until the 2020 season, Sunrisers struggled in the last edition of the tournament, finishing at the bottom of the points table, and this time, the players need to come up with a complete, all-round performance to bring the team’s campaign back on track, against new entrant Lucknow.
READ: IPL 2022: Rajat Patidar joins RCB as replacement for Luvnith Sisodia
After suffering a defeat in the first game against Gujarat Titans, a spirited batting show - first by captain KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock, and followed up by Evin Lewis and Ayush Badoni - saw Lucknow beat Chennai Super Kings in its last outing.
And once again, all eyes will again be on young Badoni, who has taken the tournament by storm with his six-hitting prowess. On the bowling front, Avesh Khan, Sri Lankan Dushmantha Chameera and Ravi Bishnoi need to be consistent and disciplined.
