Apr 4: Sunrisers Hyderabad v Lucknow Super Giants, 12th Match, DY Patil Stadium

Safe XI: KL Rahul (capt), Nicholas Pooran, Kane Williamson, Evin Lewis, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Jason Holder, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi (vice-capt), Umran Malik

IPL’s leading run-scorer since the 2019 season, Rahul has made 1929 runs in 43 games at a strike rate of 134.51. He is yet to hit peak form in this season and it could be this match where everything falls into place. Against Sunrisers, he has scored 325 runs at an average of 36.11.

Bishnoi was the pick of the bowlers in the Super Giants’ last game, picking up 2 for 24 in a high-scoring thriller. Among the IPL venues, DY Patil stadium has assisted spinners (11 wickets at a strike rate of 20.7) slightly more than the others. Also, this Sunrisers batting line-up has already struggled against another legspinner once (Yuzvendra Chahal). There’s every chance it can happen again.

Kane Williamson: The New Zealand skipper has to anchor the Sunrisers batting unit if they are to have any chance of putting up a good score. He top-scored in the 2021 T20 World Cup final with a 48-ball 85 against a star-studded Australian bowling line-up.

Jason Holder: He has a knack of starting the IPL off with a bang. In 2020, he introduced himself with a 3 for 33 against Rajasthan Royals and in 2021, he did pretty much the same (3 for 30) against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Against his former side, expect him to make a mark.

Deepak Hooda: This 26-year old is the highest fantasy points aggregator from the Super Giants’ first couple of matches. He was the second-highest run-scorer in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali domestic T20 tournament, scoring 294 runs in six outings at a strike rate of 168 with 17 sixes.

Umran Malik: The 22-year old pace sensation from Jammu & Kashmir has been extremely impressive since his IPL debut last year. Even in the last game after an expensive first over, he came back really well (3-0-18-2).

High Risk XI: Quinton de Kock, Kane Williamson, Evin Lewis, Deepak Hooda (vice-capt), Ayush Badoni, Jason Holder (capt), Aiden Markram, Abhishek Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Ravi Bishnoi