Questions aplenty for Pant and LSG against explosive Sunrisers

LSG are seeking their first win of the season after falling for 141 against PBKS, while SRH are coming off a high-scoring victory in Kolkata

Sreshth Shah

Published: Apr 4, 2026, 3:34 PM (54 mins ago)

Big picture - a tale of two captains

It's been almost exactly ten years since the day Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan opened the batting together for India at the Under-19 World Cup final in Dhaka. In the decade that followed, one prodigious talent made his mark for his outrageous shots and chutzpah in Tests away from home, while the other did so with his blistering strike rate in white-ball cricket.

While both have been hard to ignore, the attention on Pant was always greater than Kishan. Over the last 18 months, though, that story has flipped. Pant, a T20 World Cup winner himself in 2024, has since slipped out of India's T20I plans, while Kishan has pushed his way firmly back into contention with strong form in domestic cricket and then in his second run with the India T20I side. As it stands, Pant is still searching for his best batting position in the format, while Kishan, also a T20 World Cup winner, is among the most destructive No. 3s and far more assured of his game.

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If their journeys have diverged, so have the teams they now lead. Lucknow Super Giants began their season with a defeat at the hands of Punjab Kings after being all out for 141 while Sunrisers Hyderabad, after a loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, responded with a win in Kolkata that blended attacking batting with a bowling unit willing to adapt on the fly.

Ten years on from Dhaka, the paths of two once-prodigies cross again, this time as captains. An afternoon start in Hyderabad is unlikely to offer much respite for bowlers and will bring into focus how the wicketkeeping batters lead their sides.

Key question

Team news - Cummins out of action

Pat Cummins is in Australia for a fitness test and will continue to be unavailable for SRH. If Brydon Carse - who had a bruised hand for the first two SRH games - is fit, then he could replace David Payne in the XI. SRH will also need to decide between seamer Harshal Patel and left-arm wristspinner Shivang Kumar.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (probable) 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Travis Head, 3 Ishan Kishan (capt, wk), 4 Heinrich Klaasen, 5 Aniket Verma, 6 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 7 Salil Arora, 8 Harsh Dubey, 9 Shivang Kumar/Harshal Patel, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Eshan Malinga, 12 David Payne/Brydon Carse.

On match eve, LSG bowling coach Bharat Arun said Digvesh Rathi will play in Hyderabad after missing the first game. There are no fitness concerns just yet.

Lucknow Super Giants (probable) 1 Mitchell Marsh, 2 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), 3 Aiden Markram, 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Ayush Badoni, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Mukul Choudhary, 8 Mohammad Shami, 9 Anrich Nortje, 10 Prince Yadav, 11 Mohsin Khan, 12 Digvesh Rathi

In the spotlight - Nicholas Pooran and Shivang Kumar

Nicholas Pooran has not crossed 17 in seven of his last eight T20s with form eluding him in the SA20 in January and no cricket in February and March. He has scored only 121 runs across 99 balls in T20s this calendar year and is averaging 15. He has also hit only nine sixes in his last eight T20s. He started IPL 2026 with a sluggish eight-ball 8. Can a batting-friendly Hyderabad surface just be what he needs to turn his fortunes around?

As a left-arm wristspinner, Shivang Kumar is a rarity in the IPL and could be a point of difference in the SRH XI. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he took a five-wicket haul against Karnataka and scored a half-century against Jharkhand. In Kolkata, he conceded only two runs more than Sunil Narine and had much better figures than Varun Chakravarthy. A good enough show to give him a run in the afternoon game in Hyderabad?

Stats and trivia

Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head have blistering numbers against LSG. Abhishek averages 40 in five innings while scoring at 228.57. Head averages 136 in two innings while scoring at 234.48.

Despite his poor batting form, SRH happens to be Pooran's favourite team to face. He is the only batter in T20 franchise cricket history to score 300-plus runs, average 50-plus, and strike at 200-plus against the same opponent.

In the last 12 months, Mitchell Marsh's strike-rate has been equally good against pace (152.7) and spin (150.99). However, he averages 48.18 against spin compared to 35.51 against pace.

Pitch and conditions

The last time an afternoon game happened on this surface (pitch no. 2), SRH pumped 286 while Rajasthan Royals responded with 242. In the last six games on this pitch, the honours have been shared 3-3 between sides batting first and chasing. However, on this occasion, there is some risk of weather threatening the match with rain forecast in the afternoon.

Next three fixtures

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Apr 11: vs Punjab Kings, New Chandigarh

Apr 13: vs Rajasthan Royals, Hyderabad

Apr 18: vs Chennai Super Kings, Hyderabad

Lucknow Super Giants

Apr 9: vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Kolkata

Apr 12: vs Gujarat Titans, Lucknow

Apr 15: vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Bengaluru

Quotes

"It is a traditionally high-scoring track and we have a good record defending. But we enjoy chasing as well. As a group, you want to be equally confident no matter the situation. We are the first team this season to defend the score. It's important for us to do both things well and our batting group has the ability to adapt."

Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori

"T20 is always batter friendly. Batters are expected to play big shots and that's what the crowd comes for. But personally, I find bowlers have an opportunity to come good and become heroes. A bowler has to trust his abilities in order to do well.

Lucknow Super Giants bowling coach Bharat Arun

Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sreshthx

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