IPL 2023 SRH vs PBKS Preview - Will the darkest hour come before the dawn for Sunrisers?

Key match stats

Pitch Stats – Rajiv Gandhi Stadium

Average first innings score: 158
Average first innings winning score: 170
Average powerplay score: 46
Win % batting 1st vs batting 2nd: 46% / 52%

Team form vs SRH vs PBKS

SRH: LL
PBKS: WW

Recent meetings: IPL 2022 - PBKS won by 5 wickets, SRH won by 7 wickets

Preview SRH vs PBKS

It was another humbling defeat for Sunrisers in their last match out against Lucknow on a pitch that really didn't make for a great T20 spectacle. With a net run rate of -2.87, we are already getting to the stage where another defeat for SRH would leave them with a mountain to climb to get back in with a shout of the playoffs.

We did see last year that the franchise is capable of putting winning streaks together, Sunrisers' 5 wins in a row being the longest unbeaten run of any side in IPL 2022. However, since then it's just 1 win in 9 for the men in orange who were comfortably beaten by the same opponents today in their closing fixture last season.

As I maintained in my preseason preview of the Sunrisers. on paper they look like a good team but unfortunately, I don't have any confidence in the management or leadership set-up at the franchise who were always going to have their work cut out with so many new faces at the club this year.

While my preseason predictions for SRH are looking on the money, the same can't be said for Punjab Kings who I also suggested would struggle. Of course, the man charged with taking PBKS to their first playoff for 10 years is former SRH coach Trevor Bayliss and the Kings are certainly reaping the rewards of having an experienced man manager at the helm compared to Sunrisers who went with the relatively untried Brian Lara.

There was some criticism in the last game of the tempo at which Shikhar Dhawan batted and a suggestion that he might have stepped on the accelerator a little earlier. At the same time, you have to remember how PBKS were going about things last season where they recorded the highest average powerplay score and the lowest average death over score. This was primarily because they went so hard in the early part of the innings that they rarely had the wickets in hand to do anything but bat out the 20 overs.

The tactic this season seems to be for Dhawan to play the anchor role while others bat around him and push PBKS up to and beyond a par score on a more regular basis than they achieved in 2022. Of course, it's still very early days so we'll need to wait and see what happens when Dhawan fails or when the Kings are required to chase.

Historical IPL records at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium suggest this is a tougher pitch to bat on than the wicket we saw for the opening match here against Rajasthan which looked like an absolute road. Sunrisers eventually worked out that the best means of taking wickets and limiting score was to bowl cutters into the pitch. You'd hope that they won't need 10 overs to figure that out in this match...

SRH vs PBKS head to head

PBKS bowling vs SRH batting

It was something of a surprise that Kagiso Rabada didn't come straight back into the side for the win against Rajasthan but that decision was justified when Nathan Ellis returned a 4 wicket haul to secure the Kings victory. Do they stick with the Aussie for this match of turn to a man who took 4 for 22 at this ground the last time he played here?

Rabada 4 for 22 in previous match at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium

Perhaps unsurprisingly, SRH decided to make a few changes to their batting line-up for the defeat against LSG and we might well see a couple more alterations in this fixture too. In the preview of that match, I highlighted the potential problems they were likely to face against Krunal Pandya and so it provided to be.

Harpreet Brar bowling figures vs SRH in May 2022

This is likely to be a very different surface from the one that was prepared at the Ekana stadium on Friday but still, PBKS's left armers should enjoy themselves if SRH persist in playing solely right-handed batsmen. Harpreet Brar took 3 for 26 when these sides met at the end of last season, dismissing, Tripathi, Markram and Abhishek Sharma in the process.

It's not just left-arm spin that has caused Sunrisers batsmen problems in the past. Left-arm seam is not the strong suite for a few of their batsmen either and they're likely to have to face 8 overs of that from Sam Curran and Arshdeep Singh in this game.

Batsman	Ave vs left-arm fast medium	S/R vs left-arm fast medium
RA Tripathi	19.7	122.6
H Klassen	17.3	131.5
Washington Sundar	6.9	110.0

Career T20 stats vs left-arm fast medium bowling

SRH bowling vs PBKS batting

Dhawan's career stats against Buvi suggest that he'll continue to score at a relatively slow rate early in the PBKS innings. Prabhsimran Singh has played the more aggressive role while the field restrictions are in place and although his sample size against Bhuvneshwar Kumar is very small, his current strike rate against the veteran is 220!

Bhuvneshwar Kumar vs Shikhar Dhawan T20 head to head stats

In fact, SRH may need to rethink their powerplay bowling in general. In their 2 games of IPL 2023 so far, they've been taken for 85 by Rajasthan Royals, the highest powerplay score of IPL 2023 at the time of writing and LSG cruised to 35 without loss off their first 4 overs which in the context of a low scoring game essentially finished it as a contest.

Umran Malik T20 bowling record vs current PBKS squad

One thing that the Punjab batting line-up hasn't been tested by in their opening 2 wins is genuine pace and if Sunrisers can lay him a better foundation in the powerplay then Umran Malik has shown in previous meetings against the Kings that he can do significant damage! In fact, 36 of the runs above have been scored by Liam Livingstone who of course if yet to feature this season so take him out of the equation and Punjab's middle and lower order look a bit jittery against a guy bowling 150+ kmph.

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All stats used in this blog are from my own databases which are freely accessible below
IPL head to head player stats
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IPL stadium statistics.
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