IPL 2019 | Sunrisers don't look as sturdy as they did in March, says Harsha Bhogle

While the final week of the league matches has already started, the Monday evening clash between Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad has become a virtual quarter-final with the winner enjoying a two-point gap between them and the bottom four teams. This is surprising considering the fact that Hyderabad started their sojourn on a great note while Punjab floundered in the beginning. Noting this down, Bhogle suggested Sunrisers don’t look as confident as they were at the beginning of the tournament.

"Five weeks ago, the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Kings XI Punjab stood at opposite ends of the expectation spectrum. The Sunrisers had ticked off all boxes. They were a stable franchise, their overseas players were matchwinners, they had fine replacements, they had options for different kinds of surfaces and had a widely-respected captain and coach. In almost everybody's book, they were favourites for the playoffs," Bhogle wrote in his column for Times of India.

"Both teams have played well at home and less successfully away which might suggest that the Sunrisers start favourite. The good news for them is that Manish Pandey is back in form and David Warner is still playing wonderfully. But the Indian middle order core hasn't taken off all season and worryingly, Rashid Khan has had a couple of off-days. The Sunrisers don't look as sturdy as they did in March and need a strong end to the league phase," Bhogle concluded.

Ravichandran Ashwin’s Kings XI Punjab have suffered two back-to-back losses to Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings and are still very much dependent on KL Rahul or Chris Gayle. While their pacers have been expensive, Ashwin has stuck to his guns and ensured that the team's process hasn't changed in defeat. The cricket commentator and analyst praised Punjab despite adding that the team’s apparent lack of depth and the regular change in the management.

"The Kings XI, on the other hand, have been a turbulent franchise, they had made more changes to their coaching staff, didn't seem to have a lot of depth to their squad and little about them suggested that they would trouble the more fancied teams. But now, here they are, squaring off against each other in a match that could go in a long way in determining which of them makes the playoffs," Bhogle added.