Nitish Reddy: We’re not looking at the opponent. The approach is the same and we’re going to keep believing in ourselves. Good partnerships, we’ve got an explosive batting lineup and we should focus on getting some partnerships and take it from there. Need to convert starts into big ones, that’s what I’m looking for. Hopefully I can do that. It (the crowd) is very important for us, at this time we need some support and belief in us, lets hope this ground has got something for us today.

Pitch report: “Atmospherically, it is okay, doesn’t feel too hot and that’s a good thing, the players will feel good about that. Normally it is steamy here. Playing dimensions are small and smaller, 63 and 69m square boundaries, 77m straight. It’s good to be a batsman. The only bit of grass is here behind the stumps, it’s an absolute belter, it looks beautiful and it’s going to play well. I think you’re looking at 220-230 par score. Ideally, win the toss and bat for 40 overs - well that’s not in the rules. It’s the notorious pitch no. 2 where 211 is the par score. We haven’t seen too much dew here, the toss doesn’t play too big a part. Pristine conditions” remark Pommie Mbangwa and Michael Clarke.

18:30 Local Time, 13:00 GMT, 18:30 IST: Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the 27th clash of IPL 2025 folks! Sunrisers Hyderabad who had a fantastic season last year, are struggling even to breathe this time around. They have been steamrolled by most of the oppositions, hence they are languishing at the bottom of the points table. Today they will lock horns with the Punjab Kings who are riding high on confidence having won three of their four games. Priyansh Arya displayed his prowess against the Chennai Super Kings and that might have instilled a lot of belief in the Punjab Kings players. When a young gun shows the way, it does boost the morale of the entire unit. Their bowling unit has looked sorted as well. Given the trend, Punjab Kings should dominate this game as the Sunrisers are pretty low on confidence. Stay around for the toss and teams..

Preview

Sunrisers Hyderabad, the team that promised to entertain and break the 300-run barrier this season, has imploded more often than not in IPL 2025 with their boom-or-bust approach. Five games in, they now find themselves sitting uncomfortably at the bottom of the table.

With the batters not firing, it has also exposed their bowling attack, which has been among the worst since last season; their failings have often found a cover with the explosiveness of the batters and the big totals to defend. With two departments needing an uplift and a line-up that's still trying to figure out its best combination, SRH come confronting an in-form Punjab Kings, who are battling for a place at the other end of the table.

Both teams have the required firepower in their respective batting departments, which could dictate the terms at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday evening. But as the previous game at the venue showed, there is much beyond the playing surface that can shape outcomes.

For SRH, it's no more just a battle of bagging two points, but also to make up for the massive defeats in suffered in the last three games and left reeling with a depleted Net Run Rate. For Shreyas Iyer & Co. the task is much simpler: keep riding on the momentum.

When: Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 7:30 PM IST

Where: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad

What to expect: While the last game wasn't the kind of run-fest we are used to in Hyderabad, expect that to be a blip in an otherwise batting paradise, unless SRH implode again in their bid to go big.

Head to Head: SRH have a healthy 16-7 lead over PBKS while they have also won 4 out of 5 matches since 2022. At home in Hyderabad, SRH have lost only one out of nine matches against PBKS.

Team Watch

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

Injuries/Unavailability: The home team do not have any injury concerns at the moment.

Tactics & Matchups: Wrist spinners from SRH have conceded at 10.21 per over - the worst among all teams. Adam Zampa played in the first two games and was replaced by Zeeshan Ansari in the last three. Rahul Chahar is the spinner in the reserves with a good head to head record against the PBKS middle order batters, having dismissed Glenn Maxwell twice, Marcus Stoinis twice and Shreyas Iyer three times.

Probable XII: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Kamindu Mendis, Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Simarjeet Singh/Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Chahar

Punjab Kings:

Injuries/Unavailability: Punjab Kings also don't have any reported injuries in their setup.

Tactics & Matchups: With most of the spin options in SRH's bowling camp likely to favour left-handers, Nehal Wadhera could be persisted with ahead of Suryansh Shedge, which could also add some variety to an otherwise right-handed dominated middle order. Meanwhile, Yuzvendra Chahal and Glenn Maxwell could get more overs in Hyderabad, having bowled only seven overs combined in their last two games.

Probable XII: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Yash Thakur/Vijaykumar Vyshak

Did you know?

- SRH have lost 12 wickets in Powerplay in IPL 2025, the most for any team in this phase. On an average, they've lost one wicket every 15 balls

- The Punjab team's only win in Hyderabad in the IPL came way back in 2014 - the last time they qualified for Play Offs

- The SRH pace attack has the worst average (42.86) and second worst economy rate (10.74) among the seam attacks in IPL 2025

What they said:

"I think we know that this wicket is a really good surface. The last two times it was played on, I think 270, 280. The expectation is that it will be high-scoring, but I think when we've been at our best, we've just been really controlled, understand the conditions and the bowlers and what they're trying to achieve. So, that'll be the goal for tomorrow" - Daniel Vettori, SRH head coach.

"Yeah, he got out early in the last game. But if you look at the game previous to it, against RR, it was because of me and Maxwell...we stitched up a good partnership. And also during practice, he was looking in very good touch and hopefully, we'll see a very good innings coming from him very soon" - Nehal Wadhera allays concerns over Glenn Maxwell's form.

Squads:

Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Kamindu Mendis, Aniket Verma, Pat Cummins(c), Zeeshan Ansari, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Shami, Simarjeet Singh, Abhinav Manohar, Sachin Baby, Rahul Chahar, Wiaan Mulder, Harshal Patel, Adam Zampa, Atharva Taide, Eshan Malinga

Punjab Kings Squad: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Glenn Maxwell, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Yash Thakur, Suryansh Shedge, Praveen Dubey, Azmatullah Omarzai, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Josh Inglis, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod, Aaron Hardie, Kuldeep Sen, Harpreet Brar, Harnoor Singh, Musheer Khan, Pyla Avinash