Hyderabad, April 5 (IANS) Lucknow Super Giants won the toss and elected to bowl against Sunrisers Hyderabad here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in the first match of Sunday’s double header.

Both SRH and LSG are looking for early-season stability, albeit with different concerns. SRH have had mixed results so far, suffering a heavy loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) but bouncing back with a more assured win against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

On the other hand, LSG come into this fixture following a disappointing loss to Delhi Capitals, where their batting structure and selection decisions were under scrutiny. The move to promote Rishabh Pant to the top order did not pay off, and the middle order struggled after early wickets, leaving them with just 141 on the board. With little margin for error, LSG’s bowlers couldn’t apply enough pressure.

Heading into this game, LSG must decide whether to persist with their altered batting line-up or revert to a more stable approach to regain their balance and put up a stronger performance.

Winning the toss, LSG skipper Rishabh Pant said, “The wicket is good, let them bat first, and we will put them under pressure in the second innings. It’s not a new challenge, but this is one team that can hurt us. Looks like a good wicket for sure, but there’s something in it, the ball might stick after the first 6 overs. Just one change, Manimaran Siddarth is in, Nortje is out.”

Meanwhile, SRH captain Ishan Kishan said, “Very happy, always good to be in front of the home crowd. Two changes – Livingstone and Harshal Patel come in. Harshal has always done well here, Livi will give us some off-spin. Decision-making is the most important, try well and execute your plans. It’s important to get two points, but we need to be calm and take one match at a time.”

Playing XIs:

LSG: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), M. Siddharth, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Avesh Khan, Mohammad Shami, Digvesh Rathi, Prince Yadav

Impact Substitutes: Ayush Badoni, Matthew Breetzke, Shahbaz Ahmed, Anrich Nortje, Himmat Singh.

SRH: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (c & wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Liam Livingstone, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat

Impact Substitutes: Eshan Malinga, Salil Arora, David Payne, Shivam Mavi and Zeeshan Ansari.

–IANS

vi/bc