Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab are struggling for form in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League as both find themselves in the lower half of the table. It's difficult to pick out a favourite for the game as Kings XI have lost four out of five matches so far while Sunrisers Hyderabad are grappling with injuries and poor form themselves.
However, when it comes to the head to head record, Sunrisers hold the clear edge as they have beaten KXIP ten times and lost on just four occasions. There have been some nail-biting showdowns when these two sides met previously and here are five memorable clashes.
2018
How often do you see Rashid Khan getting smashed for four sixes in a row? That's exactly what Chris Gayle did as he pulverised the SRH bowlers on his way to an unbeaten 104. He was dealing in sixes that day with 11 sixes and just one boundary. KXIP went onto score 193 and managed to secure a comfortable 15 run win despite half-centuries from Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey. Gayle's knock remains the only time a KXIP player has scored a century against SRH till date.
2018
This was a low-scoring game that turned into a nail-biting affair in the end. Kings XI looked to be coasting to victory as they were chasing a modest total of 151. Even though Punjab lost their opener Chris Gayle early, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal had put them in the driving seat. They required just 19 runs from 18 balls with eight wickets in hand. However, the complexion of the game changed when Sandeep Sharma was given the ball. He rattled KXIP with two wickets as he dismissed the dangerous Agarwal and David Miller. SRH kept piling the pressure and Sidharth Kaul dismissed Mandeep Sharma in the 19th over to take the equation to 11 from 6 balls. Sunrisers had come back into the game from what looked like a lost cause. However, Rahul managed to keep his cool as he soaked up the pressure and steered them to victory and stayed unbeaten on 71.
2016
This game stood out for the brilliance of Bhuvneshwar Kumar with the ball. Defending a total of 160, Bhuvneshwar managed to pick up five wickets that day to sink KXIP. After dismissing the likes of Glenn Maxwell and Hashim Amla early on with the new ball, he came back to finish the job by taking out Manan Vohra who was threatening to take the game away from SRH. Vohra was spearheading KXIP's batting and even smashed Rashid Khan for 20 runs in an over. But Bhuvneshwar was unplayable that day and he sent Vohra packing on 95 as SRH ran out winners.
It was a game where Yuvraj Singh showed that though age was slowly catching up with him, he could still influence games in a big way. Kings XI Punjab had made a good start after batting first. Thanks to opener Hashim Amla's classy 95, Punjab posted 179. Sunrisers started their chase well with David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan stitching together a 68-run partnership. As Kings XI started pulling things back, it came down to SRH needing 41 runs from the last four overs with the onus on Yuvraj to take them home.
He stepped up and scored a well taken 42 from 24 balls which included three fours and three sixes to help SRH stroll to victory with two balls to spare.
2015
It was one of those games where David Miller almost single-handedly led Kings XI to victory. The Punjab side were chasing a challenging total of 186 at the home ground of the Hyderabad side. The Sunrisers bowlers were keeping a good grip on the game with wickets tumbling at regular intervals. It looked too big a task for even Miller as Kings XI needed 57 runs from 18 balls. The equation came down to 28 runs from the last six balls. It was going to be a contest between Ishant Sharma and Miller. After a dot ball to start the final over, the South African gained the upper hand as he smashed the pacer for two sixes. Sunrisers were left sweating when Miller scored another boundary. Sharma managed to slip in a dot ball in the second last ball that essentially put the game to bed. Miller launched Sharma's last ball over the ropes but they ended up losing by five runs in the end. Miller scored an unbeaten 89 from 44 balls but it was not enough in the end.