Ahmedabad, India: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain Pat Cummins won the toss and chose to field first against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in a crucial Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday.
Both teams enter the match tied on 14 points, with the victor set to claim the top spot in the standings. GT, led by Shubman Gill, have been in electric form, riding a four-game winning streak. SRH, meanwhile, have won four of their last five outings and are also at their peak.
“We’re going to bowl first. We haven’t played here before, so having a look with the ball first will help us understand the conditions. Whatever we need to chase, hopefully it gets easier later on,” Cummins said at the toss.
“There’s always a bit of data, but you also have to go with your gut. This pitch has seen a couple of blowout wins with teams bowling the opposition out cheaply. But it’s a crucial game and an intense stage of the tournament. We’ve earned the right to give ourselves a few chances to make the final,” he added.
When asked about GT’s superior head-to-head record against SRH, Cummins smiled: “Abhi (Abhishek Sharma) mentioned that in the change room. I said perfect, nothing to lose now. All the pressure is on them. No changes.”
Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill, who also wanted to bowl first, admitted: “I’m not into stats and all, but we were looking to bowl first too. This looks like a better wicket than we’ve had in the past couple of matches here. It’s about being consistent in your thought process and execution. We’re going with the same team.”
Playing XIs:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (w), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Smaran Ravichandran, Pat Cummins (c), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge.
Sunrisers Hyderabad Impact Subs: Travis Head, Liam Livingstone, Aniket Verma, Harshal Patel, Harsh Dubey.
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (w), Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Nishant Sindhu, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj.
Gujarat Titans Impact Subs: Prasidh Krishna, Sai Kishore, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Glenn Phillips.