🏏IPL 2024: Match 57: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Lucknow Super Giants🏏 - Page 5

It's getting to crunch time for the two teams in action today - Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants. They're two of the four teams stuck on 12 points on the table and both have three games in hand, making this encounter all the more important. The Sunrisers have lost a bit of steam in the last few games; losing 3 of their 4 games and the lone victory was also by 1-run margin. But they are back playing at home and that will boost their morale. The Super Giants suffered a big loss in their previous game to KKR and will have to put it behind them quickly. They have been inconsistent right through; winning a couple, losing a couple and now will hope that wave changes to winning again. The pitch report should be out next followed by toss and team news. Stay tuned.

Hello and good evening. Today we have Sunrisers Hyderabad taking on Lucknow Super Giants in Hyderabad. Two teams, with the same number of points, trying to get out of the mid-table scrum and give their playoffs chances a boost. It's a high-stakes clash. There are four sides on 12 points at the moment: CSK, SRH, DC and LSG. The team that wins goes to third position on the points table, ahead of CSK, but the one that loses will have another dent on their NRR, which is not ideal in the business end of the tournament. I am Ashish Pant, and will soon have Andrew Miller joining me as we bring to you all the info from what's shaping up to be a riveting clash.

Pitch and Conditions: "We are in Hyderabad and once more we are on pitch number 2 where 277 was scored. It has its own stardom. Boundary dimensions - there's some good news for the bowlers as it is the centre pitch, 60-odd meters on either side and a pitch that the spinners won't mind bowling. It feels like walking into a clay oven today. (The pitch) Extremely hard, really dry and you can feel the heat, still hot to touch. It has opened up tiny little cracks. I would be surprised if it is a record breaking total type this evening. It is probably a 200 wicket, very fast outfield and not a lot of dew. The fast bowlers will use their cutters especially in the middle phase of the match. I believe whoever wins the toss would look to set the total," reckon Matthew Hayden and Sanjay Manjrekar.

Mustafa Moudi: "Wishing a Very 31st Birthday to the Australian and SRH Skipper Pat Cummins. Since he turned 30 last year, he won the WTC, Ashes and the World Cup within a year. Hope his next year is as successful as the previous one !!"

The other thing to keep a close eye is the weather. The practice session on the eve of the game was cancelled due to rain and thunderstorms, and while it is clear at the moment, there could be a disruption later in the evening. Will that change the way how the two teams shape up? We'll know in a bit.

Krunal Pandya: Tough loss last time around. We arrived day before and yesterday’s practice got washed out because of the rain, so it is more about mental preparedness than skill because we’ve played enough games now. We just need to rectify our mistakes and keep doing the right things that we have been doing in the entire tournament. They (SRH) are a good side, specially with the batting they come really hard so as bowlers we need to ensure we are on top of the game. In the T20 format, you just have to win the small battles and once you do that, you get the desired result. It has been tough but I feel I have bowled really well, though I haven’t bowled 4 overs consistently. My role has been simple, I try to make sure to contain the batters and try to force them into mistakes. There is a lot of fearless batting this year, obviously the impact player rule has made a big ‘impact’. It changes the batters mindset. If you have an impact player at 8 and you are batting at 4-5, your mindset completely changes because suddenly there are 3-4 more batters coming in. As everything else in cricket has evolved, batsmanship has also evolved so you just need to be on top of the game as a bowler.

SRH captain Pat Cummins has the coin. Tails is the call from KL Rahul and tails it is. LSG are batting first.

LSG won toss and choose to bat first

Lucknow Super Giants have won the toss and have opted to bat

Whether I win anything else or not, I won toss points for this match.

Cheers..

LSG won the toss and opted to bat first.