Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will clash in the Match 14 of the IPL 2021 which will be the first of the double-header on April 21, 2021. The match will be played in Chennai and will be a day match, starting from 3.30 PM IST.
Both the teams have found themselves in the bottom rung of the IPL 2021 points table, with PBKS winning just one match out of the three they have played, while SRH has lost all 3 of the three matches they have played thus far.
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Both the teams needs victories to put their IPL campaign back on track and thus Team COC presents the Predicted Playing XIs for the PBKS v SRH match in Chennai.
PUNJAB KINGS (PBKS)
Punjab Kings (PBKS) have played all of their 3 matches in Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and this time, they will play their first match at the Chepauk, a pitch where the ball has stopped and turned, making batting hard.
Both of the PBKS openers, Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul like the ball coming onto the bat and they will have to change their style to suit the slow nature of the Chennai pitch. Also, KL Rahul needs to up his strike rate as though he says it doesn’t matter much in the format, his low strike rate has hurt his team more than it has helped.
Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda, and Shahrukh Khan have had to carry the burden of upping the ante in the last few overs and more often than not, have succeeded in it. Nicholas Pooran is yet to fire and playing in Chennai against spin might be the thing that sets him off.
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The pitch might also result in PBKS bringing in Fabien Allen for Riley Meredith, who has been expensive in Mumbai. Allen not only brings his left-arm spin but big-hitting capabilities as well. He might be partnered with Jalaj Saxena in the spin department.
Jhye Richardson, Mohammad Shami, and Arshdeep Singh have done well for the Punjab Kings this far and will be expected to do well and adjust to the Chennai surface as well.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD (SRH)
The SRH team has suffered from an imbalanced team, to say the least. They are top-heavy with the likes of David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey trying to score runs, but they don’t have a big-hitting finisher to push the score in the death overs.
Manish Pandey’s striking form has been poor, to say the least, and it has hurt the team as he consumes balls and gets out when the time comes to hit big shots. Plus he has failed to press the accelerator multiple times in Chennai and with Kane Williamson getting fit, he needs to be bought in at any cost.
Vijay Shankar has tried his best as a finisher, but SRH may bring in Kedar Jadhav to do the same and he also brings his bowling abilities on the Chennai pitch. Abdul Samad has shined in bits and parts with the bat.
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Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan have been SRH’s best bowlers thus far and Khaleel Ahmed did well in his first outing this season. To balance the side, Shahbaz Nadeem might also be included in the playing XI.
This match is important for both teams as PBKS would want to win their first match in Chennai, while SRH would want to find a decent playing XI combination before moving to Delhi for their next phase of matches.
PBKS COC Predicted Playing XI:
KL Rahul (C&WK), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Fabien Allen, Jalaj Saxena, Jhye Richardson, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh
SRH COC Predicted Playing XI:
David Warner (C), Jonny Bairstow (WK), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Kedar Jadhav, Vijay Shankar, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Khaleel Ahmed
