Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to gain from their South African reinforcements when they square off in Lucknow on Friday.
While Lucknow will now get the services of Quinton de Kock, the Sunrisers squad looks more complete with the arrival of their South African trio of captain Aiden Markram, ’keeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen and left-arm seamer Marco Jansen.
Though both the teams are coming off defeats, Sunrisers are the ones who need more effort. While Lucknow had started off with a win over Delhi Capitals, they couldn’t breach ‘Fort Chennai’ in their last match. The Sunrisers have played only one match, in which they were badly outplayed by Rajasthan Royals.
For Lucknow, De Kock is an automatic choice and Marcus Stoinis may lose his place in the XI. But the bigger question is, who will open their innings alongside De Kock? Will it be Kyle Mayers, who is in explosive form? In that case, captain KL Rahul, who isn’t in great touch, might have to drop down the order.
Sunrisers will hope regular captain Markram can help the team channelise their strengths better. Klaasen, too, is a great addition to the team for his batting skills. The Sunrisers’ batting will revolve around Markram, Klaasen and Harry Brook. If they don’t get runs, the Hyderabad team will be in trouble.
On paper, Lucknow are a much stronger team, but then upsets are common in T20s.
Today’s match
■ Lucknow Super Giants vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 7.30pm, Lucknow, live on Star Sports & Jio Cinema
