Back in action after a week’s break, a rejuvenated Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to seal their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 playoffs berth when they take on bottom dwellers Gujarat Titans in their penultimate league match in Hyderabad on Thursday. A single victory will suffice for Sunrisers to secure their place in the playoffs, as they require only one point to guarantee qualification.

The Pat Cummins-led outfit will also gun for a top-two finish, considering they have another game at hand and also boasts of a healthy net run-rate of +0.406. The SRH are currently at the fourth spot, with 14 points from 12 matches, and can potentially reach 18 points, which could be sufficient for a top-two finish, depending on how the incumbent No.2-placed Rajasthan Royals perform in their remaining two matches.

Heading into the contest against an already eliminated Gujarat Titans, the Sunrisers will look to ride on the confidence boosted by their record-breaking 10-wicket victory against the Lucknow Super Giants last week. While their bowlers put in a collective effort to restrict LSG for a below-par total, the opening pair of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma came all guns blazing to hunt down 166 in mere 9.4 overs to register their seventh win of the season.

On Thursday, the Sunrisers will expect their opening pair to come out with equal intensity, as the franchise’s performance this season has mostly revolved around the starts given by the left-handed pair of Head and Sharma.

The Sunrisers will however, be wary of their earlier result against the Titans when they lost by 7 wickets, and thus can’t afford to be complacent. Moreover, three losses in their last five outings, could have also served a timely reminder to the 2016 IPL champions and thus can’t afford any such hiccups.

The Sunrisers batters’ all-or-nothing approach has yielded them the desired results this season, and the onus will therefore be on the opening pair to step on the gas from the word go, and set the tone for the likes of Aiden Markham, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Abdul Samad to capitalise on during the end of the innings.

On the other hand, the Titans will hope to end their miserable campaign on a high. After 13 matches, the Shubman Gill-led outfit are at the 8th position in the IPL standings, with five wins and seven losses. The Titans currently have 11 points after splitting one point with table-toppers Kolkata Knight Riders as their previous fixture ended in a washout.

The absence of star pacer Mohammed Shami due to injury, has been a huge blow to the Titans this season, as their bowling unit, comprising the likes of Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Joshua Little, and the spin department, comprising Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed, have largely been inconsistent.

The lack of a genuine all-round option after the departure of their former skipper Hardik Pandya has also been a setback as he was instrumental in guiding the team to the title in 2022 and runners-up finish last year.

In the batting department, the team has been heavily reliant on new skipper Gill and B Sai Sudharsan, who thrived in the role of an opener. The rest of the batting lineup, including David Miller had an underwhelming season, and same was the case with Rahul Tewatia and Shahrukh Khan, turning it into a fragile unit.