Hot and cold Sunrisers face Kings XI juggernaut

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• Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Mumbai Indians by 31 runs, lost to Chennai Super Kings by four runs, lost to Kings XI Punjab by 15 runs

• Kings XI Punjab beat Delhi Daredevils by four runs, beat Kolkata Knight Riders by nine wickets (DLS), beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 15 runs

Big Picture

Insane bowling. Inept batting. Sunrisers Hyderabad have decided to be that kid in class who knows pi to the 100th decimal, but blanks so badly when asked about something like social media that they file a complaint against the English professor for not teaching them Instagrammar.

Manish Pandey for example, has 88 runs in five innings at a strike-rate of 118. Meanwhile, the man he has kept out of the Indian XI in limited-overs cricket began the IPL with a 14-ball fifty; KL Rahul's form has gone a long way to ensuring Kings XI are an all-round threat. R Ashwin's captaincy has been a big plus as well, forcing opposition batsmen to tackle their weaknesses while his own sits pretty atop the sixes chart (ahead of Wednesday's game).

With Tom Moody at the helm, Sunrisers don't lack for tactical resources. And Kane Williamson has loads of practice leading a side whose stronger suit is its bowling and which also relies rather heavily on him to score runs (and scoring them is what he has been doing so far this tournament). Things could get pretty funky on Thursday when these two teams meet.

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

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Kane Williamson (capt), 3 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Deepak Hooda, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Sandeep Sharma, 10 Siddarth Kaul, 11 Basil Thampi

Kings XI Punjab: 1 Chris Gayle/Aaron Finch, 2 KL Rahul (wk), 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 David Miller/Marcus Stoinis, 5 Karun Nair, 6 Yuvraj Singh/Manoj Tiwary, 7 R Ashwin (capt), 8 Andrew Tye, 9 Barinder Sran, 10 Ankit Rajpoot, 11 Mujeeb ur Rahman

What happened in the previous contest

Rashid was taken apart by Gayle, who scored his sixth IPL century. Correction: a sixth, match-winning IPL century, as Kings XI defended 193 with ease.

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

Barring the usual suspects - Gayle, Rahul, Shakib, Rashid and Williamson - keep an eye on Siddarth Kaul. He has bowled 11 overs between 7 and 14 for an economy rate of 6.7, and nine overs between 16 and 20 for an economy rate of 6.8.

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Shakib, Rashid star as Sunrisers defend another low total

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Sunrisers Hyderabad 132 for 6 (Pandey 54, Shakib 28, Rajpoot 5-14) beat Kings XI Punjab 119 (Rahul 32, Rashid 3-19, Shakib 2-18) by 13 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

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3:43

Shaun Tait, Ajit Agarkar and the ESPNcricinfo team discuss Kings XI's failure to chase 132 in Hyderabad

No Billy Stanlake and Bhuvneshwar Kumar? No problem, again. Two nights after pulling off the second-lowest successful defence in the IPL, Sunrisers Hyderabad defended 132 to snap Kings XI Punjab's four-match winning streak. That they could pull off another coup seemed improbable when Ankit Rajpoot's 5 for 14 - the best figures in IPL 2018 and the sixth best overall - pinned Sunrisers down to 132 for 6. It seemed as improbable when KL Rahul and Chris Gayle, the most prolific opening pair this season, raised their fourth fifty-plus stand in as many innings opening together.

Enter Rashid Khan, the No.1 T20 bowler right now, and the experienced Shakib Al Hasan. They ran rings around Kings XI's line-up and threatened both edges. Sandeep Sharma did his bit with knuckle balls. And, just like that, there was a slip breathing down the batsman's neck. Just like that, Kings XI's chase unravelled: from 55 for 0 they imploded to 101 for 9. Mujeeb Ur Rahman then hacked and reverse-swept his way to 10 off five balls - his first runs in T20 cricket - and reduced the equation to 15 off the last over. The first ball of that from Basil Thampi was a sharp inswinging yorker, which thudded into the pads of Mujeeb, who sneaked in a leg bye. Thampi then nailed the base of Rajpoot's middle stump to cap Sunrisers' comeback and move them to second on the points table.

Bouncing 'em out

The ball was bursting off a length and zipping through to the keeper in Hyderabad. The conditions here might have reminded Rajpoot of his stint in South Africa earlier this year as a net bowler. He bounced out Kane Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan in the Powerplay before returning in the last over of the innings to floor Manish Pandey's middle stump with an inch-perfect yorker from wide of the crease.

Rajpoot had shown signs of his hit-the-deck bustle against Delhi Daredevils on Monday, when he claimed 4-0-23-2 in an uninterrupted four-over spell with the new ball. But this pitch had more grass and offered more bounce. Rajpoot exploited it in his first over and had Williamson splicing a catch to mid-off for a duck. This was the reason why he was picked ahead of the more experienced Mohit Sharma.

Barinder Sran, at the other end, also found extra bounce but lacked enough discipline. He had Shakib top-edging a cut to third man, but replays indicated that Sran's front foot had strayed. At that point, Shakib was on 0. Sran came close to a wicket on another occasion, when he had Pandey skewing one over mid-off. R Ashwin ran back but he could not cling on.

Squeezing 'em out

Pandey had two more lives, but he could not break out of the funk. Ashwin and Mujeeb did not make his life easier with their bag of tricks. They kept batsmen guessing with offbreaks, legbreaks, googlies, carom balls, and front-of-the-hand sliders. Andrew Tye's knuckle balls ensured there was no escape against him either. The three bowlers had combined figures of 12-0-79-1. The 52-run partnership between Shakib Al Hasan and Pandey, which came at just 5.88 runs an over, was the slowest stand of 50 or more this season. Pandey's fifty, off 48 balls, was the slowest this season, but it hauled Sunrisers past 130 and gave their bowlers a sniff.

Sunrisers' attack bosses it, again

A sniff was all that they needed. Rahul and Gayle had just seen off Sandeep's opening spell and shaved 53 runs off the target in seven overs. Rashid, though, provided the breakthrough in his first over, with a perfectly pitched legbreak, which turned just enough to beat the outside edge and clatter into off stump. Rahul did not read it: he was playing inside the line, searching for a googly. In the next over, Thampi rushed Gayle for pace and pouched a return catch. Two set batsmen gone in four balls.

Karun Nair and Mayank Agarwal nervously knocked the ball into the gaps to leave Kings XI needing 56 off 48 balls. Then, instead of continuing to find the gaps, Agarwal hared down the track to Shakib, but did not meet the pitch of the ball and holed out to wide long-on. That set in motion a terminal collapse.

Mujeeb gave Sunrisers a late scare but the spinners and Sandeep had done enough to help them survive it. Rashid and Shakib combined for figures of 7-0-37-5. Then there was the reserve quick Thampi providing the finishing touches and highlighting the depth in the attack. He had been named the emerging player of the year last season, but could not break into the team in 2018 until Stanlake and Bhuvneshwar sustained injuries. That's how good this attack is.

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Sunrisers Hyderabad ace another tight defence after batting slump

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Sunrisers Hyderabad 151 for 7 (Williamson 63, Hales 45, Archer 3-26) beat Rajasthan Royals 140 for 6 (Rahane 65*, Samson 40, Kaul 2-23) by 11 runs

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5:47

Ajit Agarkar, Shaun Tait and the ESPNcicinfo crew review another stellar defence by Sunrisers Hyderabad

After Rajasthan Royals limited Sunrisers Hyderabad to 151 for 7 on a two-paced pitch in Jaipur, their debutant legspinner Ish Sodhi said the total was "a little under par". Having successfully defended 118 and 132 in their previous two matches, however, Sunrisers had plenty to play with and strangled another chase after Royals had made a sound start. Their sixth win in eight games took Sunrisers to the top of the points table.

The Sunrisers batsmen could have made their bowlers' task a lot easier had they not collapsed after Kane Williamson's masterful 63 off 43 balls, on a pitch where every other batsman struggled. Williamson had a control % of 100 against every Royals bowler except K Gowtham and Jofra Archer, who had combined figures of 8-0-44-5. Sunrisers lost 5 for 44 in the last seven overs of their innings.

The Royals captain Ajinkya Rahane batted through the chase, but he never looked comfortable during his half-century. Royals needed 80 runs off 60 balls, and 50 from 30, but the acceleration never came. Basil Thampi recovered from an expensive first over to successfully defend 20 in the 20th.

Old-school Williamson, all-new Hales?

With their attack performing so impressively, Sunrisers decided to forego a sixth regular bowling option - Mohammed Nabi - and bring in firepower at the top of the batting order: Alex Hales. But with the ball not coming on to the bat and Gowtham finding slow turn, Hales chose to bide his time.

Dhawan looked to force the pace, though, and played-on to a non-turning ball from Gowtham for his third successive sub-15 score since returning from an elbow injury. Enter Williamson: the bad-pitch batsman. Some balls bounced chest high while others fizzed through around the knees. Williamson was reprieved on 11, when Archer found extra bounce and the outside edge, but Rahul Tripathi dropped another straightforward catch at slip. Williamson was ultimately dismissed on 63 by a shooter from Sodhi.

In between, Williamson sussed out the conditions expertly. He swatted Sodhi's googly to the midwicket boundary and then dismantled Jaydev Unadkat in the 12th over. Anticipating slower cutters from Unadkat, Williamson bent his back knee and laced a brace of boundaries over extra cover. The 21-run over also contained a dinky paddle and a streaky outside edge. The last ball - nurdled through midwicket - brought up a 32-ball fifty.

Archer, Gowtham at it, again

Hales' dismissal, however, sparked a collapse. Gowtham had Hales holing out to backward point for 45 off 39 balls, and in the next over, Sodhi had his New Zealand captain caught behind with a googly that kept low outside off. Archer then took care of the lower-middle order to dash Sunrisers' hope of a recovery. He bowled Shakib Al Hasan with a pinpoint yorker before removing Yusuf Pathan and Rashid Khan with short balls. Sunrisers had looked good to push towards 180 at one stage, but fell well short.

The awesome Sunrisers attack does it again

Bhuvneshwar Kumar not available? No problem. Sandeep Sharma found swing with the new ball to pin down the Royals openers Rahane and Rahul Tripathi, who was bowled for 4 by a skiddy delivery. The in-form Sanju Samson, however, lined up his Kerala team-mate Thampi and took 17 runs off the fourth over. Just when it looked like Samson could turn tables on the Sunrisers attack, Siddarth Kaul bowled a knuckle ball to have the batsman splicing a catch to short midwicket for 40 off 30 balls.

With Thampi proving expensive, and with no Nabi or Deepak Hooda to go to, Williamson needed to find a couple of overs from somewhere, and so he gave Yusuf his first over of the season. With his second ball, Yusuf bowled Ben Stokes, and then Rashid Khan dismissed Jos Buttler for the third time in three T20s to leave Royals needing 56 off 36 balls with six wickets in hand.

Sandeep, Rashid, and Kaul did not concede a boundary in the next three overs and the asking rate rose to 12. Rahane slog swept Rashid for a massive six over square leg, but that was the extent of acceleration from the Royals captain.

The equation came down to 27 off 12 balls, and Kaul conceded only six in the 19th over because of some incredible catching and fielding. Manish Pandey leapt on the edge of the long-off boundary to catch the ball and drop it back into play before going over the rope, saving four runs. Then Wriddhiman Saha leapt high and to his left to catch an edge from Mahipal Lomror that otherwise might have gone for four. And then Shakib saved two runs on the sweeper boundary with some nifty footwork.

With 20 to defend in the last over, Thampi conceded only nine, and while Rahane could not be dismissed he did not find a gear high enough to hurt Sunrisers.

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