After registering a dominating win over the Lucknow Super Giants by 10 wickets, the Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to consolidate their position in the top 4 with a win over the Gujarat Titans at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday.

While GT are out of the playoffs contention, SRH are desperately close at 14 points with their 2 matches still left. The Orange Army will look to defeat the 2022 champions to all but assure their top 4 spot in the league as they’ll count on the likes of Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head to replicate their past showing against LSG.

SRH likely XI (if batting first)

Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klassen (wk), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Sanvir Singh, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Vijaykanth Viyaskanth

SRH likely XI (if bowling first)

Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klassen (wk), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Sanvir Singh, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Vijaykanth Viyaskanth, T. Natarajan

Impact Players: T. Natarajan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Umran Malik

GT likely XI (if batting first)

Sai Sudharshan, Shubman Gill (c), Shahrukh Khan, Mathew Wade (wk), Rahul Tewatia, David Miller, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Kartik Tyagi

GT likely XI (if bowling first)

Shubman Gill (c), Shahrukh Khan, Mathew Wade (wk), Rahul Tewatia, David Miller, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Kartik Tyagi, Sandeep Warrier

Impact Players: Sandeep Warrier, Sai Sudharshan, Darshan Nalkande, Abhinav Manohar

Player Statistics (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

Travis Head

Aussie batsman Travis Head has been in explosive form this season for the Sunrisers being the highest run scorer in the team. The left-hand opener has scored 533 runs from 11 matches at a mind-boggling strike rate of 201.89 with 4 fifties and a hundred to his name.

Abhishek Sharma

SRH opener Abhishek Sharma has displayed pure carnage in the opening unit alongside Travis Head along with many match-winning knocks for his team. The young gun has notched 401 runs in 12 matches at a swash-buckling strike rate of 205.64 with 2 fifties to his name.

Players who can make a difference

Pat Cummins

Orange Army skipper Pat Cummins has made timely contributions with the ball at crucial junctures of the game. Cummins has picked 14 wickets from 12 matches at an economy of 9.25. The Australian player has been one of the most difficult players to face with his mix-up of deliveries.

T Natarajan

SRH’s ace pacer T. Natarajan has been the highest-wicket taker for his team. The left-hand pacer has picked 15 wickets from just 10 matches at an economy of 9.36. Apart from his wicket-taking abilities, the left-arm pacer has been a force to reckon with his toe-crushing yorkers at the death.

Players Statistics (GT)

Sai Sudharshan

GT opener Sai Sudharshan has been in red-hot form this season as the highest run-scorer for the team. The left-hand batter has scored 527 runs in just 12 matches at an average of 47.91 and a strike rate of 141.29. Sudharshan has given healthy starts to the team with skipper Shubman Gill.

Shubman Gill

Titans’ skipper Shubman Gill has been a fine example of a skipper leading from the front. The Indian batter has scored 426 runs from 12 matches at a strike rate of 147.40. Gill scored a fabulous ton against the Chennai Super Kings in the penultimate match he played as he’ll look forward to end his stint at this year’s IPL on a positive stint.

Players who can make a difference

Rashid Khan

Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan has emphatically spun the web against many teams and made it increasingly tough for the batsmen to score runs against him. Rashid has picked 10 wickets in 12 matches he has played and showcases an economy of 8.40.

Mohit Sharma

Veteran fast bowler Mohit Sharma has been the highest wicket-taker for his team. The pacer has been one of the most difficult players to face at the death with his slower deliveries. Mohit has picked 13 wickets from 12 matches this season with his best figures being 3/25.

Head-to-head

GT and SRH have met each other on four occasions and the former have emerged victorious on 3 occasions. The 2022 champions have also won their recent outing against the Sunrisers which took place earlier this season.

Venue Details

The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium is considered a batting-friendly track offering a lot of scoring opportunities to the teams. Out of the 76 matches played here at this venue, 42 matches have been won by teams batting second. Thus, the teams will prefer bowling first if they manage to win the toss and restrict the team to a chasable total.

Match Prediction

The Sunrisers are coming from a win in their last encounter while GT also won their last match. Although the former are trailing in the head-to-head, they are likely to be swiftly through considering their ongoing momentum from their past win by 10 wickets.

As per the Google Win Predictor, the Orange Army hold 60% chance of winning the match against GT.

Fantasy XI

Travis Head (c), Abhishek Sharma (vc), Shubman Gill , Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klassen, Abdul Samad, David Miller, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan, Mohit Sharma

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