Note: It didn’t make much sense to leave Rohit Sharma out after knowing he was back opening the innings, so I had to spend an extra transfer yesterday. If only Martin Guptill hadn’t been picked for that one match – what a mess!
Also read: GL vs SRH Live Scorecard: IPL 2016 Live Score & Commentary of Gujarat Lions vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Transfers made – 2; Transfers remaining – 63
Andre Russell out – Dwayne Bravo in
Shane Watson out – David Warner in
(uncapped) Manan Vohra out – Pravin Tambe in
Batting captain – David Warner
Bowling captain – Dwayne Bravo (if Lions bowl first)/ Mustafizur Rahman (if Sunrisers bowl first)
Batting captaincy options – David Warner, Aaron Finch
The only thing that separates Warner and Finch is the bowling attacks that they will be facing today. While I wouldn’t say one is better than the other, the fact that Warner is a left-hander nullifies the Lions’ second-biggest threat – their spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Pravin Tambe. He only has to negotitate Bravo, who will anyway be coming into play only at the death.
As far as the rest are concerned, I wouldn’t bet on Suresh Raina delivering against the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mustafizur Rahman, and Brendon McCullum’s success will depend on how Mustafizur is used.
Moises Henriques did show signs of coming to form, but I can wait till he actually delivers.
Bowling captaincy options – Mustafizur Rahman and Dwayne Bravo
The same ploy used in the last match – the bowler from the team that bowls first.
Nature of the deck – Flat
Gujarat Lions – where the match breaks
3 wins in 3 matches sounds great, yes, but if you dig deeper, you will understand that the Gujarat Lions haven’t really been challenged so far. As impressive as they have been with their on-field and off-field strategies, quite a few things have gone their way in making sure they are where they are at the moment.
2 of Lions’ three wins have come against teams that are outdoing themselves every match to become the lamest outfit of the tournament – Kings XI Punjab and Rising Pune Supergiants. The other one against a Mumbai Indians outfit, which usually spends the first half of the season in awe of the options that it has before realising it’s time to actually win.
They are now running into a team that boasts one of the best bowling attacks of the tournament, and it will be interesting to see how they respond if Finch gets dismissed early in the innings, especially when they bat first.
Not just that, both their spinning options – Pravin Tambe and Ravindra Jadeja – spin the ball into left-handers; the Sunrisers have the perfect antidote for it with three left-handers in top 4, so unless Praveen Kumar and Dhawal Kulkarni swing them out, Raina will have to rely purely on their pacers for the majority of the innings, which, again, will play into the hands of their overseas batsmen who are adept in handling pace.
Sunrisers Hyderabad – where the match breaks
Manage bowlers better – Warner has so far been poor in using his bowlers, be it in delaying Mustafizur vs Kolkata Knight Riders or continuing with Bipul Sharma against Mumbai Indians not sensing why Krunal Pandya, a left-hander, was promoted ahead of Hardik Pandya. He needs to improve on that to stop Finch and McCullum if the early swing doesn’t get them, maybe by bowling more of Mustafizur up front.
Deliver in first 10, or there is no coming back – Bravo is Lions’ trump card and he has been used well so far, so it’s important for the Sunrisers to score majority of their runs up front, which could ease their job at the death.
Play both the Sharmas, Karn and Bipul – The weaknesses of Finch and McCullum against spin are well-documented; it makes sense for the Sunrisers to drop someone like Ashish Reddy for Karn Sharma and bowl both Bipul and Karn in tandem to choke the Lions openers.
Uncapped pick – Pravin Tambe (1), Bipul Sharma (2), Ashish Reddy (3)
Notable omission – Aaron Finch
Considering I need to transfer Finch out immediately after this match, I can take a loss of 100 points here. And if I can’t take this risk against a team that has a bowling attack as good as the Sunrisers, I probably will never it take it against anyone.
Bhuvneshwar’s swing, Sran’s slow-kill, Bipul’s flight and Mustafizur’s mystery – there is a lot to bank on for me today. If these don’t get him, then Finch has to be a legend.
