SRH vs LSG: IPL 2024 playoffs race gets tricky as Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants meet in the battle of equals

It can be a contest between equals between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants, both with 12 points each from 11 games, when the two teams clash in the IPL 2024 match but the home team has an edge playing in familiar conditions on what is expected to be another perfect T20 wicket at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Thursday.

There is a similarity with which the two teams enter tomorrow’s game – both coming here after huge defeats – Lucknow losing to Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers bowing down to the might of Suryakumar Yadav of Mumbai Indians.

In a way, it is a must win game for both the teams as the IPL is in the real business-end and any loss here at this stage would only further dent the hopes of making it to the playoffs.

Both the teams have three games to make the desired amendments and in quick time too.

For Sunrisers, the loss against Mumbai was a clear wake-up call with the batters struggling on a pitch which was helpful to the bowlers, and batters with the exception of a lucky Travis Head at the top and a belligerent captain Pat Cummins, the others were just not equal to the task.

The conditions here are expected to be different and far easier for Sunrisers to give the kind of freedom the free-stroking opening pair of Head and in-form Abhishek Sharma should be looking to set the stage for the likes of Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy it helps the team’s cause of scoring big.

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It would be interesting to see whether Sunrisers would opt to give the big-hitting New Zealand all-rounder Glen Phillips, who has been mostly confined to dug-out this season, in place of Marco Jansen who was the most expensive with the ball against Mumbai. And also, if left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat who was badly missed against Mumbai, is back, then the balance would be near-perfect for Sunrisers giving them the choice of having someone like the fiery Umran Malik as an Impact Player.

There is no doubt that Sunrisers bowling has been pretty inconsistent and largely depends on the experience of Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the top and the duo of Pat Cummins and left-arm pacer T. Natarajan, considered to be one of the best death overs specialists.

On the other hand, Lucknow captain and opener KL Rahul needs to stand up and lead by example if his team were to be in with a chance to move further in the points table. A solid start at the top is imperative for the big guns like Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, and Nicholas Pooran to turn the heat on and post challenging totals. But again, these batters have been inconsistent – one day dominating any bowling attack and looking very ordinary the next day.

Even in bowling, Lucknow looked for an overall, improved performance from the likes of pacers Mohsin Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq, and Marcus Stoinis to give the right kind of cushion for the spinners Krunal Pandya and Ravi Bishnoi to strike it big.

By all means, it should be a thriller from the spectators point of view given the fact that the two teams will go all out to pick those two crucial points and keep the hopes alive. Interestingly, after soaring temperatures in the last few days, overcast conditions greeted Lucknow Super Giants today evening at the venue with the covers on all over the ground while Sunrisers had no training session.