🏏IPL 2025 - Match 27: PBKS vs SRH, 12 April 2025 @ 7:30 PM IST🏏

🏏IPL 2025 - Match 27: PBKS vs SRH at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on 12 April 2025 @ 7:30 PM IST🏏

Sunrisers Hyderabad face Punjab Kings in a clash of contrasting form and fortunes

Punjab Kings have won three of their four games, while Sunrisers Hyderabad have lost four on the trot

One team is hammering away runs quicker than everyone bar Lucknow Super Giants, while the other has lost more wickets than anyone in the powerplay.

One team is seeing a new batting hero in every game, while the other is looking around for someone to stand up with the bat.

One has the second-best batting average for a team this season, while the other has the second-worst batting average for a team's top three.

It's almost like Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have swapped places this IPL, and now they run into each other with contrasting fortunes and form. The PBKS batting is lighting up fireworks like never before with three different batters - including Priyansh Arya, the latest IPL sensation - taking home the Player-of-the-Match awards in their three wins, and all this without Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell doing anything of note.

SRH, meanwhile, have as many worries as PBKS have things to brag about. Runs have almost vanished for all of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan after their first game. Even though more and more questions are being asked about their uber-aggressive batting approach, their bowlers have the worst economy rate (10.73) and the highest bowling average (41.47) in the tournament. They have the second-fewest wickets in the middle overs (7-16), and in the absence of a big-ticket spinner in their XI - having left out Adam Zampa - there is too much responsibility on the shoulders of inexperienced Zeeshan Ansari.

Be it with their batting or bowling, SRH quickly need to turn things around before the playoffs qualification gets out of their hands.

[Tag and Logo credit to Wildestdreams]

In the spotlight

The Pat Cummins we have seen so far is not the same Pat Cummins we saw with the ball last year. He has been leaking runs at 11.16 an over, which is a far cry from his economy rate of 7.30 after the first five matches last season. For context, his team-mates Mohammed Shami and Harshal have gone at less than 9.50 per over so far this IPL. As compared to bowling nearly half his overs in the middle overs the last season that fetched him nine wickets while going at under eight an over, Cummins has brought himself on in the powerplay more often this time but hasn't struck more than twice and leaked 9.28 runs an over. The death overs have been the worst for him this IPL, with no wickets and an economy rate touching 19. Can he, like his batters, turn things around in this home fixture?

Yuzvendra Chahal appears like a shade of himself this season, having gone wicketless in three out of four outings so far. He has also not always been given his full quota, though. Against CSK, he came on only in the 17th over for his lone over and didn't get his fourth over against Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans. If SRH's top order fires on Saturday, he will have the big task of bowling to three left-hand batters in Abhishek, Head and Kishan, and possibly Mendis later.

Stats and trivia

• The average for Head and Abhishek's opening stand has fallen sharply from 49.90 last season to 16.80 this IPL.
• Kishan has a delicious match-up against two PBKS bowlers. Against Arshdeep Singh, he has struck 31 runs in 15 balls while being dismissed three times. And against Chahal, he strikes at nearly 172 but has also fallen three times to him in 32 balls.
• Shreyas Iyer has a strike rate of exactly 200 this IPL.
• Maxwell's highest IPL score (95) was against SRH back in 2014, when he was with the same team, PBKS.

Quotes

"I don't think there are any concerns with Maxwell. We all know what a great player he is. He just finishes off the game so he's that kind of a confident player and we all believe in him, and so does our coach Ricky Ponting."

PBKS batter Nehal Wadhera backs his senior team-mate

Sunrisers Hyderabad, the team that promised to entertain and break the 300-run barrier this season, has imploded more often than not in IPL 2025 with their boom-or-bust approach. Five games in, they now find themselves sitting uncomfortably at the bottom of the table.

With the batters not firing, it has also exposed their bowling attack, which has been among the worst since last season; their failings have often found a cover with the explosiveness of the batters and the big totals to defend. With two departments needing an uplift and a line-up that's still trying to figure out its best combination, SRH come confronting an in-form Punjab Kings, who are battling for a place at the other end of the table.

Both teams have the required firepower in their respective batting departments, which could dictate the terms at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday evening. But as the previous game at the venue showed, there is much beyond the playing surface that can shape outcomes.

For SRH, it's no more just a battle of bagging two points, but also to make up for the massive defeats in suffered in the last three games and left reeling with a depleted Net Run Rate. For Shreyas Iyer & Co. the task is much simpler: keep riding on the momentum.

Team Watch

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

Injuries/Unavailability: The home team do not have any injury concerns at the moment.

Tactics & Matchups: Wrist spinners from SRH have conceded at 10.21 per over - the worst among all teams. Adam Zampa played in the first two games and was replaced by Zeeshan Ansari in the last three. Rahul Chahar is the spinner in the reserves with a good head to head record against the PBKS middle order batters, having dismissed Glenn Maxwell twice, Marcus Stoinis twice and Shreyas Iyer three times.

Probable XII: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Kamindu Mendis, Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Simarjeet Singh/Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Chahar

Punjab Kings:

Injuries/Unavailability: Punjab Kings also don't have any reported injuries in their setup.

Tactics & Matchups: With most of the spin options in SRH's bowling camp likely to favour left-handers, Nehal Wadhera could be persisted with ahead of Suryansh Shedge, which could also add some variety to an otherwise right-handed dominated middle order. Meanwhile, Yuzvendra Chahal and Glenn Maxwell could get more overs in Hyderabad, having bowled only seven overs combined in their last two games.

Probable XII: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Yash Thakur/Vijaykumar Vyshak

When: Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 7:30 PM IST

Where: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad

What to expect: While the last game wasn't the kind of run-fest we are used to in Hyderabad, expect that to be a blip in an otherwise batting paradise, unless SRH implode again in their bid to go big.

Head to Head: SRH have a healthy 16-7 lead over PBKS while they have also won 4 out of 5 matches since 2022. At home in Hyderabad, SRH have lost only one out of nine matches against PBKS.

Head to Head - Last 5 Matches

SRH won by 4 wickets (with 5 balls remaining), 19-May-2024

SRH won by 2 runs, 10-Apr-2024

SRH won by 8 wickets (with 17 balls remaining), 10-Apr-2023

PBKS won by 5 wickets (with 29 balls remaining), 23-May-2022

SRH won by 7 wickets (with 7 balls remaining), 17-Apr-2022

Batters to watch(Recent stats)

Heinrich Klaasen, SRH

10 M • 292 Runs • 32.44 Avg • 155.31 SR

Travis Head, SRH

10 M • 271 Runs • 30.11 Avg • 193.57 SR

Prabhsimran Singh, PBKS

10 M • 271 Runs • 27.1 Avg • 163.25 SR

Shashank Singh, PBKS

10 M • 265 Runs • 66.25 Avg • 161.58 SR

Bowlers to watch(Recent stats)

Pat Cummins, SRH

10 M • 9 Wkts • 10.54 Econ • 22.44 SR

Harshal Patel, SRH

5 M • 6 Wkts • 10.06 Econ • 17 SR

Arshdeep Singh, PBKS

10 M • 15 Wkts • 10.28 Econ • 15.6 SR

Lockie Ferguson, PBKS

4 M • 7 Wkts • 9.43 Econ • 12 SR

IPL 2025, SRH vs PBKS Pitch Report, Weather Forecast, Live Cricket Score Streaming Online: Rock bottom in the Indian Premier League and on the back of four consecutive losses, Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on Punjab Kings in Match 27 of IPL 2025 on Saturday. Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad, home to SRH, will be the venue for the clash as the hosts desperately seek to get back to winning ways. As for PBKS, a convincing 18-run victory over Chennai Super Kings, in which they amassed an impressive total of 219/6 means that momentum is on the visitors’ side.

SRH vs PBKS Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium Pitch Report

As an obvious pick for a batting-friendly venue, the team that wins the toss is expected to opt to bat and rake up a large total, thereby putting pressure on the opposition. Matter-of-factly, the bowlers from either camp are in for a difficult evening. As the match progresses, pacers are also likely to pick up wickets. Chasing big scores hasn’t been easy for SRH, and not batting first will most likely mean trouble for the hosts, who are collapsing in on themselves.