Sunrisers Hyderabad to Battle Lucknow Super Giants in 2026 IPL Double-Header

Mo. Basuony

Published: April 5, 2026 6:16 AM ET

Sunrisers Hyderabad to Battle Lucknow Super Giants in 2026 IPL Double-Header

The second double-header of IPL 2026 arrives on Sunday in Hyderabad. The day begins with Sunrisers Hyderabad battling Lucknow Super Giants at 3:45 PM.

Match context and form

Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Kolkata by 65 runs at Eden Gardens in their last outing. That performance boosted their confidence ahead of the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium clash.

Lucknow Super Giants suffered a poor start to the season. They were bowled out for 141 against Delhi Capitals and lost by six wickets.

Team news and tactics

Justin Langer remains in charge of Lucknow. The side features big names such as Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, and Nicholas Pooran.

Rishabh Pant’s experiment as an opener failed in the opening match. He is expected to return to number three, where he scored a century last season.

Mohammed Shami and Prince Yadav gave Lucknow a good new-ball platform. The side, however, could not sustain pressure through the middle overs.

Mystery leg-spinner Digvesh Rathi was left out of Lucknow’s previous playing eleven. That choice may be revisited for the Hyderabad game.

Sunrisers strengths and selection

Ishan Kishan leads Sunrisers Hyderabad as captain and wicketkeeper. He has impressed with both leadership and batting.

Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have been in strong touch at the top. Heinrich Klaasen bolsters the mid‑order.

The Sunrisers bowling restricted Kolkata to 161 in the prior match. Jaydev Unadkat and Ehsan Malinga handled death overs effectively.

Left-arm wrist spinner Shivang Kumar offers a rare option in T20 cricket. He took five wickets versus Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Shivang also hit a half-century against Jharkhand. In Kolkata he conceded only two more runs than Sunil Narine and outperformed Varun Chakravarthy in figures.

Pitch and conditions

The Rajiv Gandhi Stadium surface favors batters. It is generally flat and encourages scoring early in the innings.

As matches progress, the pitch slows and begins to help spinners. Teams may use spin in the middle overs.

The venue has hosted 83 IPL games. Teams batting first have won 10 of 36 matches there.

Teams bowling first have won 21 of 47 matches at this ground. Those numbers underline variable outcomes.

Weather forecasts point to general cloud cover and temperatures near 34–36°C in the afternoon. Rain chances are low, and a full match is expected.

Players to watch and statistics

Nicholas Pooran enters history as a tough opponent for Hyderabad. He is the only T20 franchise batsman with over 300 runs, a 50-plus average, and a 200-plus strike rate against one single opponent.

Still, Pooran has struggled recently. He failed to pass 17 runs in seven of his last eight T20 innings.

Across the year’s T20 calendar he has scored 121 runs from 99 balls, averaging 15. He has hit nine sixes in his last eight T20 matches.

Pooran began IPL 2026 slowly, scoring eight runs off eight balls in his first game. The flat Hyderabad pitch could help him find form.

Abhishek Sharma has thrived versus Lucknow, averaging 40 across five innings with a strike rate above 228. Travis Head also boasts strong numbers, averaging 136 in two innings versus the same opposition.

Mitchell Marsh shows balanced attacking numbers. His strike rate over the past 12 months is similar against pace and spin.

Marsh’s strike rate versus pace is 152.7 and versus spin 150.99. His average is 35.51 against pace and 48.18 against spin.

Probable playing XIs

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wk/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Malinga, Liam Livingstone.
Lucknow Super Giants: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (c/wk), Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Mukul Chaudhary, Mohsin Khan, Mohammed Shami, Anrich Nortje, Prince Yadav, Avesh Khan.