Hyderabad, Punjab look to avoid a hattrick of defeats

It's early days yet in IPL 10 and it's been a mixed bag with no clear pattern emerging vis-a-vis setting or chasing down targets, but having faltered on both counts in their two away encounters, Hyderabad would be happy to return to familiar environs for their battle against a team that is in a similar boat.

The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium will host two back-to-back matches featuring the defending champions and how well they cope from the energy-sapping loss to Kolkata on Saturday will determine their fortunes against Punjab on Monday, reports The Times of India.

Sunrisers and Kings XI Punjab have both won two and lost two in four outings this season. Punjab suffered defeat at the hands of Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders. Hyderabad have lost to Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians in their last two matches. In Kolkata, the spin trio of Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Yusuf Pathan bowled nine overs for 43 runs and claimed three wickets to stifle the SRH chase.

"The turning point of this game was the spell of Kuldeep Yadav and Sunil Narine. If we had played spin better, it would have been a different result," lamented Hyderabad's Ashish Nehra.

The last time Hyderabad and Punjab met, Hashim Amla blasted 96 to take Punjab to 179. David Warner slammed a fifty and Yuvraj Singh smashed 42 not out to take Sunrisers home with seven wickets and two deliveries to spare.

Today’s match between Hyderabad and Punjab will start at 8:30 pm Bangladesh Time.