Sunrisers Hyderabad will be without their star batter Travis Head for their match against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana on Monday due to the Australian being down with Covid. According to reports by Cricbuzz and ESPNCricinfo, this was confirmed by head coach Daniel Vettori on Sunday who said that the batter will reach India only on Monday morning and will be assessed by the medical staff of the franchise in order to see if he can play or not.
If he does not play, it’ll be a big blow for Hyderabad who are already out of play-off contention but will give Lucknow a much-needed boost in the race to qualify for the next round. Last year’s finalists SRH, however, will be playing for pride while LSG have an outside chance of sneaking into the last-four if they can get to 16 points with three emphatic wins.
LSG’s net run-rate -0.469 however makes it virtually impossible unless their last three opponents are completely annihilated.
Head, meanwhile, hasn’t had the best time this season after his blistering form in 2024, notching up just 281 runs in 11 matches with 2 half centuries and a high score of 67 runs. He has an average of 28.10 with a strike rate of 156.11. He had finished the 2024 season with 567 runs at an average of 40.50 and a SR of 191.55.
For SRH, it will be a chance for some of their players to shrug off rustiness that has plagued their campaign through and through. The likes of Nitish Kumar Reddy and Ishan Kishan wouldn’t mind some runs under their belt before they leave the sub-continental shores for India A’s tour of England.
However the bigger context is skipper Pant’s personal form which has nosedived since his record Rs 27 crore bidding at the IPL auctions last year. With 128 runs from 11 games at a strike-rate of less than 100 and average of 12.80, it couldn’t have gotten worse for Pant. Things can only go up from here on.
(With agency inputs)
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