Battle of underdogs (Preview)

Finally, Hyderabad won at home. That, too, with some style outplaying strong Bangalore in all three departments of the game. Thursday win was special for more than one reason. Hyderabad had a poor start to the season losing two matches and their record at home was dismal prior to Bangalore encounter.

The welcome and confidence boosting victory was made possible thanks to a ruthless performance with bat and bowl. Most of their top order contributed to their best batting effort with young batsmen emerging the lead performers. And, with the ball they were more menacing as fast bowlers led by Dale Steyn ripped heart out to Bangalore batting to fashion a clinical win for the home side.

They looked altogether a different side on their way to their maiden victory this season. Now, challenge is to keep the winning momentum going. Skipper Kumar Sangakkara and team management will be reminding their team exactly about that.

What was refreshing at far as Hyderabad was concerned is the fact young players like Sunny Sohal, Bharat Chipli and MS Gony stepped up to the plate when team was under pressure to perform. Team management will be hoping for the same from youngsters and create a synergy between the young guns and senior players like Sangakkara, JP Dumminy, Steyn and Ishant Sharma.

For Hyderabad, bowling is their strong suit and an intense battle should be expected on Saturday between Hyderabad bowlers and Adam Gilchrist led Punjab batting unit. Punjab and Hyderabad haven’t been deemed as favorites by many cricket pundits with Punjab weakest side of the season in many people’s book. Make no mistake, both teams can well turnout be underdogs in the tournament.

After losing its first match to Pune in what turned out to be a one-sided affair, Punjab’s resurgence was led by unknown young opener Paul Valthaty whose blistering century-first of this season-powered his side to a comprehensive win over Chennai as Punjab chased down a stiff target of 189 runs easily. The win should help Punjab camp in a long way in getting the belief and confidence that it seemed to be lacked in their first match.

Surely, it will be a Punjab side with a different body language that would be taking on Hyderabad. The pleasing aspect of Punjab’s win over defending champions Chennai was the fact that all the players seemed to be up for the game and addition of Ryan Harris to the bowling has lent experience to the lineup.

During his 19 run inning against Chennai, Gilchrisht appeared to getting into his groove and sooner he finds the touch better it will be for Punjab. Spin department hasn’t impressed at all with lead spinner Piyush Chawla conceding far too easy runs in both games. Bowling at the death is another problem Punjab need to address. Harris, Ryan Mclaren and Praveen Kumar should take the responsibility of bowling when the slog is on. Talented Abhishek Nayar has been very poor so far doing virtually nothing with either bat or ball. He will be keen to put behind the poor performances to put some runs with the bat.

HYDERABAD

Players who can make impact…

Ishant Sharma…The tall lanky fast bowler missed out on world cup squad by a whisker but is very keen to put some good performance with the ball to get his place in national team back. He is bowling with a lot of pace, bounce and movement making batsmen to hop around in the crease. On a Hyderabad wicket which has some pace and bounce, Ishant will be very hard to handle for Punjab.

Bharat Chipli…Lot has been said of this young man’s hitting abilities. He showed that in a game against Bangalore as he cleared the fence with ease. He could well emerge as young batting talent from Hyderabad side as he has all the ingredients to make an impact in this format.

SQUAD

Akash Bhandari, Amit Mishra, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Bharat Chipli, Cameron White, Chris Lynn, Dale Steyn, Daniel Christian, DR Teja, Harmeet Singh, Ishan Malhotra, Ishank Jaggi, Ishant Sharma, Jaydev Shah, JP Duminy, Juan Theron, K Sangakkara (c)(wk), Kedar Devdhar, Manpreet Gony, Michael Lumb, Pragyan Ojha, Shikhar Dhawan, Sunny Sohal.

PUNJAB

Players who can make impact…

Ryan Harris…A seasoned first class player who has been part of Australian national team for last two years or so, Harris got injured to be out of action for three months. He is back and IPL gives him a good opportunity to make a comeback to the national team. He can regularly hit the 145kph mark and is a death over specialist. He is someone Gilly can rely upon when pressure is on.

Paul Valthaty…Already a star courtesy his magnificent century against Chennai that won his team a game. During his ton he showed that he has all the shots in the book and can improvise according to the situation. Punjab will want him to carry on his run scoring way. There will be a stiff test when he faces likes of Steyn and Ishant.

SQUAD

Abhishek Nayar, Adam Gilchrist (c)(wk), Amit Yadav, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, David Hussey, David Miller, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Love Ablish, Mandeep Singh, Nathan Rimmington, Nitin Saini, Paras Dogra, Paul Valthaty, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Ryan Harris, Shalabh Srivastava, Shaun Marsh, Siddharth Chitnis, Sunny Singh, Vikramjeet Malik, Ryan McLaren.