For a team that has hardly tinkered with its line-up and made full use of the experience and guile of Ashish Nehra in crunch situations, Sunrisers Hyderabad was dealt a blow ahead of the match against Delhi Daredevils with the > seamer ruled out with injury .
Coach Tom Moody insisted that the team had enough replacements in the pace department but admitted that there was little in terms of experience. Going by the like-for-like logic, Barinder Sran looks to be a shoo-in to make the Playing XI but the team has kept its options open.
> Preview: Daredevils to take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in tussle for playoffs
“We've got a number of options. We can go with Barinder Sran, another left-armer. Or we can look at playing a spinner. We've got a lot of options. We'll figure that out tomorrow,” Moody said on the match eve.
'Unfinished business'
Pretty on top of the table, Sunrisers is in with the best chance of becoming the first team to ensure a playoff spot but Moody insisted the team had 'unfinished business' in its final few games. “We're playing our best team tomorrow. It's important that we continue our momentum but at the end of the day we've still got some unfinished business. The table's getting very competitive and we would like to finish off by winning our last couple of games and have ourselves in the top two,” Moody said.
The Australian also predicted a decent score, saying it “the wicket looks to be a good cricketing surface” but added that “it's a big ground so there’s a certain way both teams will need to adapt and play.”
Daredevils, on the other hand, is keen to make the playoff after several disappointing seasons and the upcoming two games are crucial to that end. Coach Pravin Amre admitted as much but hoped the team would take confidence from its previous positive results at the venue in the past editions to get the momentum.
“We have played well and defeated Hyderabad in the previous game so we know we can do it. The team combination will be decided after we see the pitch and [it also depends] on the opposition composition,” Amre said.
Admitting that the team's batting has been a concern throughout the season so far, Amre said it was an area the team was looking to improve. “That area we want to improve...once we bat well, we are a different team. If we think about winning against RCB, I think that was our best performance and we have to match that performance,” he added.
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