Sunrisers set sights on playoff berth against weary Lions

Gujarat Lions v Sunrisers Hyderabad
Kanpur, May 13, 2017
Start time 1600 local (1030 GMT)

This season: After Rashid Khan's 3 for 19 restricted Gujarat Lions to 135 for 7, an unbroken century stand between David Warner and Moises Henriques handed Sunrisers Hyderabad a nine-wicket victory at home.

Overall: Sunrisers have a commanding 4-0 lead over Lions, having secured all their wins while chasing.

Ashish Nehra missed the last Sunrisers game with a hamstring injury and there are some doubts over Yuvraj Singh's fitness as well. Their availability for the game on Saturday is as yet unclear.

A Sunrisers win against Lions will put them in the playoffs. Even if they lose, they could sneak in provided Rising Pune Supergiant beat Kings XI Punjab on Sunday. However, if Sunrisers lose and Kings XI defeat Pune, David Warner and his men will be pushed out of the playoffs.

Sunrisers Hyderabad 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Kane Williamson/ Mohammad Nabi, 4 Yuvraj Singh/Deepak Hooda, 5 Moises Henriques, 6 Naman Ojha (wk), 7 Vijay Shanker, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Mohammed Siraj, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Siddarth Kaul

Gujarat Lions: 1 Dwayne Smith, 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 5 Aaron Finch, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 James Faulkner, 8 Dhawal Kulkarni, 9 Pradeep Sangwan, 10 Basil Thampi, 11 Ankit Soni

Shikhar Dhawan has been dismissed four times by James Faulkner while managing only 23 runs off 24 balls in the IPL. So, perhaps, there is a case for Lions to hand the new ball to Faulkner and let him have an early crack against Dhawan. The slightly two-paced nature of the Green Park surface might also assist Faulkner's variations.