Dubai: Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner won the toss and decided to field against Kings XI Punjab here at the Dubai International Stadium on Saturday.
SRH and KXIP have faced each other 15 times in the IPL so far, and SRH has dominated the fixture by winning it 11 times.
In their last meeting in IPL 2020, SRH defeated KXIP by 69 runs.
Mayank Agarwal and James Neesham have missed today's match. Mandeep Singh and Chris Jordan replaced them in KXIP XI.
In the meantime, Khaleel Ahmed has comeback to SRH XI replacing Shahbaz Nadeem.
David Warner: We're going to have a bowl first. I think the last game proved that a little bit of dew came towards the end. Towards the back end, there was a bit of pace on the wicket. Each game presents a new challenge, these guys are on a roll and it was nice for us as well to win the last game and get some momentum. We have spoken a lot about our middle order and it was nice to see the guys play without risk in the last game.
KL Rahul: I would've liked to bowl as well. We've batted second in the last few games which we've won. The wicket shouldn't change much, it looks good. Winning obviously gives the group a lot of confidence especially when it comes against the top three teams. Different people have put their hands up in all three games which was pleasing. We had to win each game in the second half and we're taking it one game at a time. Chris has been a big matchwinner, he has come good and brings calm and a winning spirit into the dressing room. He keeps the mood of the dressing room very light and the boys love playing with him. It has been different people in different games, the bowling has come good as well. Maxwell coming good in the last game gives confidence to the group. Hopefully we can play aggressive cricket. Two changes - Mayank Agarwal and Jimmy Neesham miss out and Mandeep Singh and Chris Jordan come in.
Pitch report: "What we're seeing at the back-end of this tournament is a little bit of grass being left on the surface. The grass gives a little bit of pace and bounce. So what we're seeing is a different tactic, where captains want to bat second. These slightly cooler nights mean dew and the ball skidding on later in the evening. 165-170 looks par," Simon Doull examined the pitch report.
Teams:
Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): KL Rahul(w/c), Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Mandeep Singh, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, Chris Jordan, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): David Warner(c), Jonny Bairstow(w), Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Priyam Garg, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan
