Hyderabad look to get off the mark (Preview)

Nothing seems to be going former IPL champions Hyderabad’s way. They have had a very poor start to their IPL campaign losing both their games, one each at home and away. With IPL into its fourth season only, Hyderabad have got an inauspicious tag of being an average team at home. They have hardly won anything at home. Despite having some top class players in its ranks, new contingent of cricketers seem to be struggled to get together as a unit.

Thursday’s encounter gives them a chance to rectify two things. They make sure that right men bat at right spots and register a win at home to monkey off their back to silence the critics. For that to happen players like Daniel Christian, JP Dumminy  and Kumar Sangakkara need to bat in the top four and take it on themselves to score runs as most of the batsmen in the squad are inexperienced.

Bought at a huge price, the trio of foreign recruits is yet to fire with the bat, contributing to the indifferent performance of the team in first two games. Christian did play a breezy cameo but in a losing cause against Kolkata but skipper and Dumminy have failed to contribute to the team total. To make things worse local talent and young batsmen look to be overawed by the big stage and have thrown their wickets away cheaply. For greater good of the team, batsmen need to put a heavy price on their wickets and learn how to mix aggression with controlled batting in this format of the game.

Hyderabad have a good bowling unit having a good combination of quality fast bowlers and spinners. Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma make a lethal pair of fast bowlers and leg spinner Amit Mishra and left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha provide a variety to the bowling. For bowlers to make some inroads in Bangalore batting lineup, Batsmen have to step up the plate and put some runs on the board.

Bangalore, who come to this game after being outplayed by Mumbai, have some problems to address as well. They lacked application while batting in last match and bowling looks to have some chinks in the armour. There is no dearth of match winning players, all they need to do is not to panic under pressure and keep playing their natural game.

After losing early wickets, Bangalore batsmen went into their shell too much that eventually cost them the game and bowlers barring skipper Daniel Vettori couldn’t stand before Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu onslaught and erred too much in line and length.

Zaheer Khan needs to lead the bowling attack and mentor young fast bowlers and same should be done by Vettori to spinners.

Thursday match will see an intense battle between Steyn and company and strong batting lineup of Bangalore that boasts of names like Tilkeratne Dilshan and AB de Villiers. A mini-battle will also be seen between two class acts-Vettori and Sangakkara- as both captains will be keen to get better of each other.

What would have a bearing on the result of the match is the way local recruits fair in the match as it them that supplemented that x-factor to the proceedings.

HYDERABAD

Players who can make impact…

Daniel Christian…Fans in India are yet to see what he is capable. One of the heavy price picks, Australian all-rounder Christian can hit a long ball non-chalantly. He can change the course of the game on his own. His medium pace can be more than handy and he is a brilliant fielder as well.

Amit Mishra…An intelligent leg spinner who was the second highest wicket taker last season could well be skipper’s go to man. He brings calm and variety to the bowling attack. He turns his leg break consistently and has a well disguised googly to trouble batsmen.

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

BANGALORE

Players who can make impact…

Daniel Vettori…He is world’s best left arm spinner at the moment who can trouble big batsmen with his control and variation. Captaincy brings best out of him as he likes the challenge in any format. He is a kind of person who can take Bangalore to title glory. He will relish bowling to the likes of Sangakkara and Dumminy in the middle overs.

Saurabh Tiwary…From Dhoni’s land Jharkhand, this talented left hander made a name for himself in last edition while playing for Mumbai. Naturally an aggressive player he keeps his calm under pressure. He can clear the boundary with an ease and run hard  between the wickets.

SQUAD

AB de Villiers, Abhimanyu Mithun, Abrar Kazi, Arun Karthik, Asad Pathan, BN Bharath, Charl Langeveldt, Cheteshwar Pujara, Daniel Vettori (c), Dirk Nannes, Johan van der Wath, Jonathan Vandiar, Luke Pomersbach, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammad Kaif, Muralidharen Gautam, Nuwan Pradeep, Raju Bhatkal, Rilee Rossouw, Ryan Ninan, Saurabh Tiwary, Sreenath Aravind, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Virat Kohli, Zaheer Khan