IPL 2017: SRH (Sunrisers Hyderabad) vs RPS (Rising Pune Supergiant) confirmed team news and playing XI

Bowling is the issue that the Sunrisers Hyderabad need to sort out as they host the Rising Pune Supergiant in a really important IPL 2017 game on Saturday.

While a brittle middle order was the problem at the start of the tournament, and indeed for much of IPL 2016, the form of Kane Williamson has erased a lot of that particular problem.

With Williamson coming in at No.3, and Yuvraj Singh and Moises Henriques at No.4 and No.5, the batting order of SRH looks a whole lot stronger.

The flipside of Williamson being in the playing XI, though, is that it does weaken the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling.

Mustafizur Rahman has been unable to get much game time for SRH this season, with Rashid Khan a permanent fixture and the Sunrisers going with two of Henriques, Ben Cutting and Williamson.

Cutting has lost his place in the playing XI in the past few games, but the man of the match of the IPL 2016 final will hope to have a say in the final run-in of the league phase for SRH.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad, in order to strengthen their bowling a little bit more – the ease with which DD chased down a 185 total would have worried David Warner – could bring in Cutting or Mohammad Nabi for Henriques.

As Henriques showed in that DD game, his bowling isn't the greatest – the Australian went for 36 runs in 2.1 overs – and if the Sunrisers Hyderabad believe a top four of Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Williamson and Yuvraj is strong enough, bringing in an all-rounder who bowls better might not be a bad idea.

Both Cutting and Nabi are better bowlers than Henriques, and if SRH feel the need for a pure bowler, they could also bring in Mustafizur, with Deepak Hooda then given bigger responsibility in the batting department.

Finding a place for Ashish Nehra, who hasn't been in the greatest of form in IPL 2017, but brings with him oodles of experience, could also be the need of the hour for SRH. Mohammed Siraj and Siddarth Kaul have been impressive in spurts, but maybe Nehra now needs to come in for one of the two younger Indian pacers.

While SRH ponder over their playing XI balance, RPS have very little to worry about. Having won six of their last seven matches in IPL 2017, Steve Smith is unlikely to tinker with his team too much.

RPS went in with the same playing XI for two consecutive matches, and don't be surprised if it stays the same for a third straight game.

Confirmed playing XI:

SRH: David Warner (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson, Yuvraj Singh, Moises Henriques, Naman Ojha, Bipul Sharma, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Ashish Nehra.

 

RPS: Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Tripathi, Steve Smith (C), Manoj Tiwary, Ben Stokes, MS Dhoni, Dan Christian, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Imran Tahir.