Punjab Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad - IPL 2022 Match 28: Who Will Win?

Punjab Kings Team Preview

Having built a decent looking squad, the Punjab Kings are looking to establish some consistent form by putting together two consecutive wins for the first time this season. The indications are promising, and they will be hoping they can qualify for the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons.

After being put into bat first, the Kings held on to win by 12 runs against the Mumbai Indians to move into third place in the table. The Kings smashed 65 runs in the Powerplay (overs 1-6) with fifties from captain Mayank Agarwal (52 runs from 32 balls) and Shikhar Dhawan (70 runs from 50 balls) and late cameos from keeper Jitesh Sharma (30 from 15 balls) and Shahrukh Khan (16 from 6 balls) which helped the Kings post 198.

On the batting front the signs are mixed, but there is still time yet for key players to find form. Liam Livingstone has of the highest innings score and IPL batter strike rate (186.36) of recognised hitters, (164 runs from five games) and an average of 32.8 runs per game. Regarding most runs, Dhawan is joint fifth with Shimron Hetmyer in the 2022 IPL table with 197. Agarwal will be hoping that his recent half century signals a change of fortune that has seen a poor return of 42 runs from his previous four games. If, or rather when, the overseas big hitters Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Jonny Bairstow find form, then the Kings will be well placed.

The Kings will be looking for a repeat of their opening game success here against the Royal Challenger Bangalore where they won the toss and elected to field in an afternoon match on a good wicket. In this high-scoring match, they chased down 205 with one over to spare, hitting 63/0 in the Powerplay. This was their joint highest successful run chase in their franchise history, and runs were evenly distributed throughout the side. The Royal Challengers Bangalore has since gone on to win three from five matches.

The Kings might be tempted to bring back Rajapaksa for Bairstow. Rajapaksa scored 43 here in the first game while Bairstow is trying to find his big-hitting form having scored only 20 in three innings.

The Punjab Kings bowlers have gone about their work quite successfully. Rahul Chahar has been the pick of the bowlers taking seven wickets in give matches and is eighth in the IPL bowling table. West Indies all-rounder Odean Smith has begun to find form, but at the expense of runs. Kagiso Rabada and left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh have been effective too.

At IPL betting sites you will be able to find a whole range of markets to place your wagers. We will stick to one of the more common ones for our match prediction today. For the top batsman market, the player we would have to choose would be all-rounder Liam Livingstone.

Sunrisers Hyderabad Team Preview

In their 18 head-to-head encounters with the Punjab Kings, the Sunrisers Hyderabad lead by 12 wins to 6. They won their first maiden IPL title in 2016 and have qualified for the play-off stage of the tournament every season since. Having lost their opening two matches, the Sunrisers have fought their way back with three consecutive wins against the Chennai Super Kings, the Gujarat Titans, and the Kolkata Knight Riders. This run suggests a team that has re-discovered consistency.

The points table has quite a congested look with currently six teams on six points. One area the Sunrisers will be looking to improve on is their run rate, which currently keeps them ‘bottom’ of the ‘six point’ grouping.

Kane Williamson’s side have not yet had to defend a total in their five games played. They appear to have turned a corner after failing t chase down totals in their first two matches (149/7 and 157/9). Their loss of so few wickets is notable. The finger injury to Washington Sundar may continue to keep him out of this game. Left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith has provided a decent replacement, through has not yet been called on with the bat.

After openers Abhishek Sharma and skipper Williamson only managed 20 runs in their recent win against the Kolkata Knight Riders. The result was secured by Rahul Tripathi’s free-wheeling of 71 runs off 37 balls for a strike rate of 191.98, and Aiden Markram who scored his second half-century of the season and 68 not out from 36 balls. Tripathi was named Man of the Match. Marco Jansen found bounce and pace and was the most economical of the bowlers returning 26/1 off four overs.

Skipper Williamson stated that he was pleased with the squad’s latest performance, however highlighted that there are still many things they can work on, but the improvement is noticeable. He will be particularly happy that they are bowling well, and taking early wickets, to restrict the Knight Riders to 38/3 in the Powerplay.

We will round off this team preview with a few thoughts if you are considering IPL betting. Our IPL prediction for top bowler would have to be t Natarajan and for top batsman, it would be Rahul Tripathi.

Toss Prediction

With an afternoon start, the outcome of the toss should not make much of a difference that what we typically see in the evening matches. However, for our toss prediction, we still think the winning captain will choose to bowl first.

Pitch Conditions

The Punjab Kings are making their second visit to the Dr DY Patil Stadium, having opened their campaign here in a high scoring win against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (208). By contrast, the Sunrisers have played three of their last four games here, winning two (155 and 162) both chasing, and losing when defending 157.

Of the eight matches played here this season, two have seen scores of 200+ with four between 150-170. So, the Kings’ only visit - and win - scoring 208 when batting second in a similar afternoon start as Match 28 is notable.

The average T20 score at the venue is 155, though this season it is 172. The average first innings score in the last 25 matches is 175 runs. The team batting first has only won 40% of the time. The average Powerplay score is 44. In their three matches here, the Sunrisers scores 37/0, 40/2, and 40/0 in the Powerplay, and the Kings 63/0. Out of all the matches played at the Dr DY Patil Stadium this season, 60 % of the wins are made by the teams chasing, batting second.