Punjab Kings is the team in form; Sunrisers Hyderabad, not so much.
Does that mean that PBKS (two wins and a No Result) starts as the heavy favourite against SRH (one victory and two losses) when the two sides clash in an IPL 2026 match at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium here on Saturday? Not really.
A glance at the scorecard from the last time these two teams met (Hyderabad, April 12, 2025) provides necessary context.
Sunrisers, coming off a four-match losing streak, hunted down the 246-run target with nine balls and eight wickets to spare, thanks to a 55-ball 141 from Abhishek Sharma.
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Since then, not much has changed in terms of personnel in the Sunrisers batting line-up. In fact, it has only added more firepower with the acquisition of Liam Livingstone.
It is this reputation that keeps Sunrisers alive in any contest.
Abhishek’s whirlwind knock is still fresh in PBKS batter Shashank Singh’s mind. On the learnings from that game, Shashank said, “Abhishek’s innings that day in Hyderabad was one of the best I’ve ever seen in the IPL. We look at videos to see what lengths we could’ve bowled, but not in a way where we stress on the result. There is no hard-and-fast rule that this is how we analyse a match, but we do take learnings from every game.”
This is where PBKS will rely on skipper Shreyas Iyer’s experience.
The 31-year-old will do well to guide the young PBKS willow-wielders on the approach needed against the batting-heavy Sunrisers.
Another factor is dew being out of the equation in this afternoon fixture, which should empower SRH pacers Jaydev Unadkat and Harshal Patel to use their biggest weapons — cutters and change of pace — more effectively.
Past results suggest that SRH holds the edge over PBKS (a 17-7 win-loss record).
The question remains: will history trump recent form?
Published on Apr 10, 2026
![IPL 2026: Shashank Singh plays down PBKS’s poor record against SRH, backs bowlers to come good “Our bowling unit wants to dominate not only tomorrow’s [Saturday] match but also all the upcoming matches.”This one line from Punjab Kings batter Shashank Singh easily conveys the confidence the team has in its bowling line-up, which next faces the batting might of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL).“We are backing our strength. The present situation is that our bowlers are playing very well. Their batting order is very good, but we have a very good attack with the likes of Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen in our ranks. So, we will prefer to think about our strengths and not theirs,” Shashank said during the pre-match press conference here on Friday.READ | Batting units in the spotlight as Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad meetPBKS used up 19.1 overs and seven wickets while chasing down 163 against Gujarat Titans the last time it played at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium. The hosts come into this contest without a great record, both at this ground (4-7) and against their opponent (7-17).“We don’t think about stats. Right now, we are looking at trying to impress each other in our team.”“We don’t have the best of records in home conditions over the past couple of years. But again, we could have won the first match convincingly this season. We made some mistakes in the middle overs, which led to that game going down to the wire… as humans, you make errors and learn from them. In a way, it was good that the first match challenged us,” Shashank added.Published on Apr 10, 2026 #IPL #Shashank #Singh #plays #PBKSs #poor #record #SRH #backs #bowlers #good](https://i0.wp.com/ss-i.thgim.com/public/incoming/k9gc09/article70847874.ece/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1200/hahs.jpg?ssl=1 "IPL 2026: Shashank Singh plays down PBKS’s poor record against SRH, backs bowlers to come good “Our bowling unit wants to dominate not only tomorrow’s [Saturday] match but also all the upcoming matches.”This one line from Punjab Kings batter Shashank Singh easily conveys the confidence the team has in its bowling line-up, which next faces the batting might of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL).“We are backing our strength. The present situation is that our bowlers are playing very well. Their batting order is very good, but we have a very good attack with the likes of Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen in our ranks. So, we will prefer to think about our strengths and not theirs,” Shashank said during the pre-match press conference here on Friday.READ | Batting units in the spotlight as Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad meetPBKS used up 19.1 overs and seven wickets while chasing down 163 against Gujarat Titans the last time it played at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium. The hosts come into this contest without a great record, both at this ground (4-7) and against their opponent (7-17).“We don’t think about stats. Right now, we are looking at trying to impress each other in our team.”“We don’t have the best of records in home conditions over the past couple of years. But again, we could have won the first match convincingly this season. We made some mistakes in the middle overs, which led to that game going down to the wire… as humans, you make errors and learn from them. In a way, it was good that the first match challenged us,” Shashank added.Published on Apr 10, 2026 #IPL #Shashank #Singh #plays #PBKSs #poor #record #SRH #backs #bowlers #good")