Hot and cold Sunrisers face Kings XI juggernaut
Kane Williamson leads a sensational bowling attack, but his opposite number R Ashwin has a line-up that can both pile up and contain runs
Big Picture
In the news
- Chris Gayle missed Kings XI's previous game on Monday with some soreness. Will he be good to go on Thursday?
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar is also nursing an injury. He was asked to stay back in Hyderabad instead of playing against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday so that he has a better chance of recovery.
The likely XIs
What happened in the previous contest
Strategy punt
- Andrew Tye is Kings XI's premier death bowler, with an economy rate of 7.3. But there may be reason to try him with the new ball: the Australian quick has dismissed Williamson two times in nine balls in T20 cricket, giving away only six runs.
- In T20s, Sandeep Sharma has dismissed Chris Gayle four times in 47 balls, giving away only 55 runs.
Stats that matter
- If Williamson can hold Tye off, his team has a good chance of cashing in at the end. All the other Kings XI bowlers combined have an economy rate of 12.1 between overs 16 and 20.
- Finishing is an area Sunrisers' batsmen definitely need to improve; as things stand they have the highest dot-ball percentage (40.4) at the death.
- Rahul needs 39 runs to complete 1000 in the IPL.
- As of April 23, Kings XI have been burying teams under Smart Runs. As per ESPNcricinfo's new metrics to make sense of the shortest format, Gayle and Rahul have so far contributed an extra 80 runs to the team's aggregate.
- Aaron Finch might not be the best asset against Sunrisers: he's made only 33 runs in 37 balls against Bhuvneshwar, while being dismissed twice, and 15 runs off eight balls against Rashid Khan, while being dismissed twice.
Fantasy picks
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo