Gujarat Lions to face Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad Yuvraj Singh plays a shot against Sunrisers Hyderabad during the IPL match. (AFP)

Gujarat Lions will be keen to shrug off the disappointment of a humiliating defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders as they gear up to face defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in their first away game of the Indian Premier League on Sunday.
Sunrisers are high on confidence after a comfortable 35-run win in their opening game against a depleted Royal Challengers Bangalore while Gujarat Lions were demolished by the KKR opening pair of Chris Lynn and Gautam Gambhir during their 184-run opening stand.
With Yuvraj Singh in prime form and Australian Moises Henriques and Ben Cutting making all-round contributions, Sunrisers are favourites going into the match. Under the spotlight will be teenage Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan Arman, who got a couple of wickets on IPL debut.
Gujarat's bowlers were taken to the cleaners by the KKR opening duo. The likes of Shivil Kaushik and Dhawal Kulkarni were hammered all around the park.
The defeat would certainly force Lions to ring in a few changes.  
Australian all-rounder James Faulkner may replace a horribly out-of-form and out-of-shape Dwayne Smith.
With Jason Roy and Brendon McCullum set to get a longer rope at the top of the order, Faulkner's better bowling ability makes him a more viable option that Smith, who is batting lower down the order.
Skipper Suresh Raina had acknowledged missing seasoned players like Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja.
Their batsmen, however, put up a decent show with captain Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik scoring 68 not out and 47 runs respectively.
In the previous encounter between the two sides during the last edition's qualifier, Lions lost to Sunrisers despite ending as table toppers.
Sunrisers have a potent bowling attack with Ashish Nehra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cutting and Rashid sharing the burden.
Captain David Warner's destructive batting prowess is well-known but his form has been poor.
Other opener Shikhar Dhawan scored 40 in the last game and is eying to continue his good form.

• IPL 2019