The speed gun radar will be functioning overtime when Lockie Ferguson's 150 click thunderbolts meet its match in rising pace sensation Umran Malik's toe-crushers as table toppers Gujarat Titans clash with close-on-heels Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2022 match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Debutants Gujarat are currently in the midst of a dream inception year with six wins from seven games at the halfway stage to be placed on top of the IPL standings.
Interestingly, the only loss that Gujarat suffered in IPL 2022 so far was against Sunrisers in their first round clash and Hardik Pandya wouldn't mind a sweet revenge for that defeat.
However, Sunrisers' bowling attack especially their four-prong fast bowling unit has been exceptional as one saw when they demolished Royal Challengers Bangalore for 68 in its previous encounter.
The disconcerting bounce and movement created by Marco Jansen (6 wickets from 5 games) is ably complemented by Umran's (10 wickets from 7 games) fiery pace, Thangarasu Natarajan's (15 from 7 games) deceptions off the track and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (9 from 7 games) balancing it all with his experience.
So much so that a lightweight spin department manned by left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith in absence of an injured Washington Sundar, till now hasn't been a cause of worry for Kane Williamson and his band of men.
The rub of the green has also gone Sunriers' way in this particular season as they now have five consecutive wins from five games where they have chased targets after the bowlers intimidated the rival batting unit.
For Pandya though, his bowling unit is no inferior to Sunrisers as Mohammed Shami's artistry (10 from 7 games) and Ferguson's (9 wickets from 7 games) aggression has brought them a lot of success, not to forget Rashid Khan's (8 wickets from 7 games) ability to be more than decent even in a quiet year by his standards.
However, one area where Gujarat need to lift their game is Powerplay batting as Shubman Gill (207 from 7 games) has gone off the boil after the his 96 and Wriddhiman Saha, replacing Matthew Wade, hasn't got going.
There is Afghanistan's Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the set-up but in order to play him, Titans would have to sacrifice a potent pace bowling option like West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph, which won't be the most wise thing to do.
Abhinav Manohar and Rahul Tewatia would also like to be more consistent in the finishers' role rather than being like a flash in the pan for a match or two.
However, Gujarat's bowling attack has the ability to catch the Sunrisers batting unit off-guard considering that it hasn't been tested a lot with young Abhishek Sharma (220 in 7 games) and No. 3 batter Rahul Tripathi (212 from 7 games) doing bulk of the scoring in easy chases.
If Gujarat could breach through the Sunrisers top-order, most of the middle-order batters including the dangerous Nicholas Pooran haven't yet got a decent hit in the middle and the rustiness under pressure could keep Titans interested.
If they manage to upset Sunrisers' rhythm, it will take them closer to play-offs in its maiden year in the championship, no mean achievement in a competition of this class.
Teams:
Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (captain), Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Gurkeerat Singh, B Sai Sudarshan, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Matthew Wade, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wriddhiman Saha, Alzarri Joseph, Darshan Nalkande, Dominic Drakes, Jayant Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Pradeep Sangwan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Varun Aaron, Yash Dayal.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholos Pooran, Abdul Samad, Priyam Garg, Vishnu Vinod, Glenn Phillips, R Samarth, Shashank Singh, Romario Shepherd, Marco Jansen, Jagadeesha Suchith, Shreyas Gopal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sean Abbott, Kartik Tyagi, Saurabh Tiwary, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Umran Malik, Thangarasu Natarajan.
Match starts at 7.30pm IST.
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