IPL 2019 Eliminator, DC vs SRH: Why Axar Patel is a big threat for Warner-less Sunrisers Hyderabad

The very fact that Sunrisers Hyderabad have made it to the playoffs with only 12 points is largely due to the explosive starts provided by David Warner and Jonny Bairstow. Now that both Warner and Bairstow have left, Sunrisers have to scramble to assemble a potent opening combination.

While Martin Guptill and Wriddhiman Saha have been getting the team off to brisk starts, the impact is nowhere close to what Warner and Bairstow were having. Also, without David Warner, the batting order is exclusively right-handed which makes the threat of Axar Patel quite significant.

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The left-arm spinner has been superb this season - his economy rate against right-handers is 5.84, but it slips down to 10.26 per over against left-handers. So, this is where Sunrisers Hyderabad need to be smart and rope in young Abhishek Sharma instead of Yusuf Pathan and negate Axar’s threat.

The nature of the Vizag surface could well dictate the sides picked and if the previous matches are anything to go by, it could well be a sluggish surface which offers assistance to the bowlers.

“We have to take the confidence from our win against them in Hyderabad. They also beat us in Delhi, so both the teams are fairly confident, and it is going to be a tough match. However, they are also missing some of their players, and we are without Kagiso now, so it is going to be a difficult task as well, but a well-matched encounter,” Delhi Capitals skipper Shreyas Iyer said before the match.